He stood there looking at the body on the moonlit covered grass slowly morphing and mutating. The once blue skin began to slowly change into a moss green color, the limbs seemed to extend increasing in length, her eyeballs rolled back and when they returned to their original state, the once white sclera seemed to be filled with red blood vessels meeting the iris of the eye which had turned pitch black.
The hollowed out throat which he had shattered seemed to reinflate itself like a ball. She was surely dead before but that was no longer the case. A black aura could be seen manifesting from her feet up forming a brown dress, covering her entire body.
Her canines seemed to have gotten sharper and the rest of her teeth showed signs of tooth decay.
Her bones twisted and she assumed a crab like position and moved back away from the boy around 15 meters and then her upper body straightened itself like nothing.
The satyrs and nymphs looked in disbelief with shock and fear running through their bodies. This was not something which should have even been near this sector of the forest.
It winced at him full of disgust.
As their eyes met, he became overrun with conflicting feelings...........contradictory feelings.
His personality was switching up periodically, he could tell, the confidence he had mere minutes ago was gone and he was back to his normal self.
It felt as if he was fighting between doubt and confidence.
The hag gave no time for him to settle his feelings and charged at him at an incredible speed.
He could see it coming at him, drawing closer with each millisecond, its hand with sharpened nails aimed directly at his chest about to thrust in and go for the kill.
It all looked so slow, an attack easy to dodge and counter attack, he had no idea how to kill it, it felt as if he had gone blank like an empty canvas.
If he didn't know how to kill it, he would surely do the next best thing, incapacitate it and keep digging away until he could find a way to kill it.
The hand with elongated fingers finally made its way to his chest, now was the time to start.
Knocking away the hand then pummeling that filthy face into the ground would do.
He tried to raise his hand only for his body to not respond, he had lost all control and was a sitting duck.
Instead, his body shifted to the side and the hand pierced the right side of his chest.
He could feel the nails impale his bones, and his flesh parted with blood leaking down paired with a pain like no other.
The speed at which the hag attacked him pushed him through the dirt with incredible force only until they met with a tree.
It impaled him directly on the tree and everything suddenly got hazy and blurry, his vision was fading.
As he bent his head down and looked down at the hand in his chest, it was blurred but he could see it, his flesh parted, tattoo ripped apart and the blood running.
He raised his head and looked at the hag in the eyes.
The hag bent its head down and then she stuck her tongue out of her mouth.
It was long and made its way to the wound where it licked his blood and tasted him.
Then its head made full contact and began to suck his blood and nibble at a piece of his flesh.
She then raised her head and looked him in the eyes and licked his face and began to speak.
The words were unrecognizable, getting weaker and weaker with each passing moment until he could hear nothing anymore from anywhere as if he was deaf along with a burning sensation on his entire back as if it was slowly being torched.
He could feel the earth shake, and the ground melt beneath his feet turning into a pool of blood.
----------------------------------------
The hag along with everyone disappeared from his sight and the surroundings immediately changed, with the ground crumbling and blood rising along with the three pillars from before shooting up in front of him from below.
The three pillars erupted from the ground only to crumble away before his eyes, what was done was now undone.
Remains of the pillars fell to the bottom of the sea but as they fell, three silhouettes could be seen rising from the depths.
Slowly but surely they rose until they all stood before him.
All of the figures were bare naked, but the tallest of the three seemed to capture his attention the most.
As he looked upon the three carefully he could see they were all faceless but once he began to look at their bodies he could finally understand what the silhouettes were, each one was him at a different point in his life, from his childhood straight until adolescence.
They all slowly walked towards him and upon directly standing in front of him, the tallest one pointed his finger at the blood at the boy's feet signaling him to look down.
Slowly he bent his head down to glimpse at the blood beneath his feet only to see that in his reflection he had no face of his own. It made his chest tighten seeing this.
"Who are we?" the voices asked in unison.
Who are they?
He thought about it for a second but there was no definite answer in his mind.
"Me, that's who you are" he responded.
"Who are we?" they asked again.
He gave no answer, he could already tell where this was going, this was supposed to be a point of self-reflectance but the answer which they desired he had no idea of.
Keeping silent he waited, hoping for them to shut the fuck up but they kept asking on and on until they finally began to annoy him.
Anger and frustration built up, with the same question being repeatedly asked and no escape possible.
He couldn't take it anymore, he grabbed the two childlike versions of himself by the throat with each hand and snapped their windpipes and then walked over to the tallest one and grabbed him by the neck and threw him on the ground and choked him to death in a fit of rage and then stood up and looked at the bodies lying there.
The blood thickened and the bodies slowly sunk to the bottom in what seemed to mimic that of tar.
"I FOUNNNNDDDDD YOUUUUU" a voice screamed to the point where it was nearly deafening.
"What the fuck" the boy said to himself as he frantically began to look in all directions.
The voice was feminine yet at the same time, it was hoarse, rough......dark and he immediately felt fear course throughout his body.
"THE BITCH THOUGHT SHE COULD SEPARATE USSSSSSS.........DON'T. YOU .WORRY .ABOUT . A THINGGGGGG, I'LL FIXXXXX ITT ALLLLLLLLL" the voice said extremely enthusiastic.
"Shut up bitch, this isn't your place" a voice echoed from beneath him with great aggression and then it went dead quiet.
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The blood began to pulsate where the 3 figures sunk and a hand rose from beneath as and then a figure slowly climbed out.
It was the adolescent version of himself dripping in blood that emerged from below but unlike the previous encounter, this one had a face, upon seeing that he immediately looked down only to see that his own face had returned. He gave a sigh of relief and looked at the figure before him.
"Man this thing is a pain in the ass" the figure exclaimed as he walked towards him with a grin on his face.
If I kill this one too will he go away?
"No you stupid fuck, I won't disappear"
"The fuck"
"I dunno how long I got here before we go and if that bitch might try to interrupt me again"
"Who was that?"
"You don't have to study about that, but we have more important matters to discuss"
"Like what?"
"This is the last conversation you'll be having..........well me too, this is the least I can do for you" the figure asserted with a slight hint of sadness being detectable.
"Sorry what?"
"The seals just broke, so it's bye bye good world......or should I say cruel world? I dunno to be honest"
"What do you mean?"
"I am the incarnation of everything those seals were, a pure manifestation of its contents"
"And your point is?"
"Because I'm here it means only one thing, both of us are going to merge"
".............What?"
"When I had originally asked Susan to place these seals, it was for a better life, removing my essence and sealing it was also like sealing a separate person and bottling it up but the bottle just broke and everything is leaking out looking for a new place................."
"Sorry what?"
"Is your head hard? If there are two things of similar nature which are different at the same time and you mix them, something new will come out right?" the figure asked with a condescending look on his face.
He understood everything that the figure said and he wished it was all a dream but it was no dream.
"See,when I was in control, I felt nothing except for that rage you feel now, so when I disappeared you developed things I never had, empathy and all that other bullshit, things I couldn't have I made sure you could, so even if Susan hadn't died, you could've lived a happy life but on the off chance that the seals were broken, I fuckin made sure that a damn well stronger version of ourselves would come out with aspects of both of us, making up for what each one lacked"
"So all this rage I feel ri-"
"That's my emotions coursing through you, looks like you were already corrupted to the point where it even influenced your subconscious self, to the point where you just killed off yourselves which I personally thought was kinda funny.............we were already slowly starting to merge but I was going to be the dominant one from the looks of things, you seemed to already be on the verge of shattering, it's a good thing the seal broke now from that hag outside stabbing you while you still have all these emotions you can still feel"
"...............Dominant one? If the hag broke it from that, why didn't the seals just break from my fight with glutton?"
"Yea, the way in which these seals were designed was for them to be immediately broken, not gradually like whats been happening, because it's gradual, I would take over for sure as you'd be unable to cope with everything and would slowly disappear.........those voices you heard, you only heard them for a couple hours and you were gonna trip, I've been hearing those things for years and I still didn't snap and that glutton thing, seems he tried to help you out a bit, he tried to restore the seals but in the end, no matter who you are, when it comes to seals the only person who can restore a damaged seal to its original state is the caster, he just bought some time" the figure explained.
"I see.............. so it was like that......... so right now you and I -"
"We'll disappear and entrust our future to whatever comes out after this, he'll be both of us yet neither of us, we leave everything to him and pray to god he makes the right choices from experiences from the both of us"
"................."
He was speechless, these were his last moments based on what the figure said.
"You're talking this pretty well aren't you"
"Not really but there isn't a say in the matter, the minute I was getting fragments of your memory and I felt mood swings, this was already a possibility I thought about but I guess I'm kind of happy too"
"Happy?"
"Yea, my misery ends now if you know what I mean" he stated with sadness to the figure.
".............I felt the same way before I was sealed away, knowing that I wouldn't have to endure pain anymore, forcing myself to live on" the figure reaffirmed.
"We really are cowards aren't we?" he asked the figure.
"The definition of a coward, we might not run from a fight but we damn well run away from living, fearing pain and failure but I think he'll be a stronger person than both of us in each aspect" the figure stated.
"............So what now?"
"Our misery ends now and hopefully he won't end up like us.....and to you Zifaira................. I know you've been listening so let me leave this message for you, although I won't be around don't forget this............. a part of me is still within him meaning.........come near him and try to corrupt him the way you did to me and he'll fuckin kill you bitch...........hopefully he'll kill you, I mean he's got some of this dumbass in him too" he said as they both began to slowly burn away into a black ash with a crimson tint that slowly merged forming a gray colored ash which solidified and a new figure could slowly be seen forming.
".........................He is already mines............"
----------------------------------------
Ugh..............
It was subtle and the hag couldn't feel it but a small heated wave erupted from the boy for a second but Quo'ah felt, with his age, his senses were refined and he picked up on it immediately.
"I WILL DEVOUR YOU FOR YOUR ARROGANCE, I WILL TAKE PLEASU-"
Why the fuck do I have to deal with their problems...........
"You? Eat me?" the boy said as he headbutt the hag.
That felt nice, I guess since I started I might as well follow through.......
"We should run Quo'ah" a nymph whispered signaling the entire group's desire to get out of this situation as fast as possible.
"......We....cannot" he stated.
"Why no-"
"Just stay quiet, I will explain everything after" he adjured.
*CRACK
It could feel an overwhelming pain course through its body followed by a cracking sound similar to that of a piece of wood being broken but the source wasn't the where the boy had headbutted her but her hand.
As she glimpsed below at her hand which she had used to impale him against the tree, she could see the bones of her forearm protruding out and next to them were the boy's hand clenched into a fist.
The punch was so quick and powerful it had shattered the bones and it took some seconds for the pain to reach her brain.
"AHHHHH" it screamed as it pulled its hand out and backed away about 20 meters towards the trees of the forest leaving a trail of blood which came from its hand and dropping the boy to the ground.
"I don't know who you think I am but I don't take kindly to threats" he muttered to himself on the ground as he slowly got up.
"Seems that it managed to land a good one on him" he said he looked at the blood pouring from his chest.
The wound in his chest gave no pain and the wound didn't seem fatal enough to kill him in his opinion but something was off.
He could feel it make its way up through his windpipe.
*COUGH *COUGH
"Blood?................. It isn't being triggered from the wound, what the fuck"
*COUGH *COUGH *COUGH *COUGH
He fell to his knees by an excruciating pain running through his body and he began coughing like a horse with more blood coming out with each cough.
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK, IT'S MY TIME RIGHT NOW, IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS
"What the hell is that Quo'ah" Ja'eh said upon noticing a slight gray tintish aura around the boy just barely visible to the naked eye.
"The mana from the surroundings is trying to enter the wound but is forcefully being expelled, it would seem as if his body is trying to heal itself immediately but something is stopping it, at this rate he will di-"
All the blood immediately stopped pouring from his chest along with the aura, the wound had not healed, it was as if his body was stopping itself from further degradation on its own.
I lost alot of blood but I don't feel any weaker, how strange
He got up and began to walk towards the hag.
For a split second he turned his head and looked at the satyrs and nymphs and in that singular moment, they could see it reflected in his eyes, condescension.
Making them all feel worthless and weak as all they could do is stare at the situation and hide behind him like cowards.
Words were no longer even capable of being formulated by their mouths in the fear that this man would turn and redirect his attention to them, pure dominance like a wolf to sheep.
"I don't really get whats happening but right now it seems you're pretty bad lucky, seems I ain't gonna die", he said with a sadistic smile on his face to the hag.
"WHAT ARE Y-"
*WHOOSH
He dashed at her faster than anything they had ever seen and when their eyes finally caught up they could see the boy's hand covering the hags mouth, stopping her from speaking.
Her breath stinks, it's pretty strong huh I could probably smell this even from far away............
"Dunno but right now I should get a little even for this wound huh," he said answering the question she tried to ask before.
*SNAP
He hit her a swift jab to the throat shattering her larynx, then he twisted her head in a 180 and hit her a powerful thrust to her right knee, shattering the joint and forcing her to kneel before him and completely incapacitating her.
Fuck, I don't wanna talk to the back of her head.....
*SNAP
He twisted her head in another 180 so he could look it in the eyes.
"See the benefit of you being a hag, although it takes a little while, you'll heal from most injuries, that makes you the perfect toy doesn't it, unless I rip out that filthy heart and put an end to you" he muttered to himself as he lifted her hand that she used to jab him in the chest with from before.
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.........
*CRACK
He grabbed her four fingers and broke them back to the point where they could almost reach the knuckles of the hand.
She tried to bawl out in agony but her body would not allow it.
What the fuck do I do with the thumb now...............
Looking down he could see that tears were beginning to form in one of her eyes, seeing this filled him with rage, crying was the equivalent of begging for mercy in his eyes.
*CHOMP
He bit off the hag's thumb and spit it into the palm of his hand.
*SPLURK
Using the thumb he drove it straight into her left eye with the vitreous humor within the eye leaking out.
The sound of muffled screaming permeated the air.
*CLACK
He could hear her joints fix back into place and could see her neck return to its original state along with her kneecap and hand.
As he looked down on her kneeling before him, he could see the fear in her remaining eye paired with her urge to scream out aloud showing on her face with her facial muscles extremely tensed up.
This............... turns me on a little...........maybe I shouldn't have crushed her voicebox..........damn she looks good to kill right now........but it'll have to wait a bit......
"So boring, get outta here," he said as he kicked her away, turned around and began to walk towards the satyrs and nymphs.
*SKITTERING
A glance to his behind and he could already see that the hag had run off.
Now these people..........should I kill them?........ No, I need help from them
----------------------------------------
"Ay you, your name was Ja'eh right?" he asked with doubt as he dug through his other counterparts memory to recollect their names.
"Yes," Ja'eh responded.
"Gimme your bow there" the boy ordered with a threatening look on his face.
"Sorry what?"
"Her coven should be nearby here"
"You are going after an entire coven by yourself?"
"Why are you going to chase after them? The threat has passed, it was clearly your victory, there is no need to go to this length." Quo'ah added in on the two of them conversing.
This one's Quo'ah right......
"Uhhh, You're right but this is pretty fun right now and also, its because I can"
I just wanna see how far I can push this body, fighting's pretty fun after all
"Your idea of fun is going after an entire coven in that state?" Ja'eh said with sarcasm feeling his fear of the boy slowly disappearing.
"No shit, just gimme the bow" the boy replied with a bored look on his face.
Ja'eh picked up the bow at his side and passed it over to the boy and then proceeded to pick up the quiver filled with arrows and pass it to him only for him to refuse it.
"The bow is all I need, wait here until dawn, I should be back before then" he instructed the entire group.
"AND WHY SHOULD WE DO THA-"
"We will wait for you child but before you leave, I must ask you this" Quo'ah interjected as he stopped a nymph from speaking out.
"Hurry up, the scent is fading," the boy said with belligerence being detected by everyone.
They understood in that moment that if they held him back any longer he would probably turn on them but that wouldn't stop Quo'ah, it was the first time he had seen something like this and only one question filled his mind at this point.
"Who are you?" Quo'ah queried.
"That's a good question, I don't really know but for now let's call me................. fuck up number 3," he said sarcastically with a smirk on his face as he ran into the forest following the scent of the hag.
"We better get out of here quickly" a nymph suggested to the group upon seeing the boy disappear into the forest.
"We stay here and wait for him" Ja'eh exclaimed.
"Ja'eh is right, that person you just saw was not the same as before, I would rather not take chances with him...................a hag is stronger than all of us here and he crushed it like it was nothing before it even got a chance to use magic and what was even more surprising was that he took pleasure in it and is hunting it just based of a scent, that is not the type of man I would like to run away from " Quo'ah said with fear being clearly reflected on his face.
The nymphs separated themselves from the satyrs and seemed to be having a discussion as if to stay or not, the discussion took about 5 minutes and then one of the nymphs walked forward with their decision.
"Fine, we will wait" she said, it could clearly be seen that some of them didn't like this idea but right now what was best is that they stuck together, not only because of the boy but the appearance of a hag in this part of the forest signaled that other potentially dangerous creatures could also be nearby, this was the best chance for survival, there was potential strength in numbers afterall.