Queltsom lay on the wooden bed, resting after the fight with Brel, even if he didn't know he ever fought the old man... probably. Kerrio moved in quietly so as not to disturb his sleep and slowly pulled his mouth open. His teeth were unusually pointed, being sharper than any human's teeth he had ever seen before. Kerrio was surprisingly unsurprised by this discovery, because it was a magical fantasy world, and the possibilities and speculations were virtually endless. He probably had some weird evolution or deviation from usual human trates or something weird like that. He put the green sphere inside Queltsom's mouth, and was taken aback when the seed moved as if it were alive. The seed rolled and was reflexively swallowed by Queltsom. Then they all felt it. An almost palpable aura that spoke of anger at the entire universe and everything within it surged to the surface. Kerrio, guided by Sov's powers, felt it try to intercept the seed and consume it. He felt pulses in that aura, pulses that spoke with words."Finally, freedom awaits me! I will no longer be bound by the Will of the Lightmarked one! I will fulfill my master's desires!", the pulses echoed with a booming rumbling voice. It wasn't audible, Kerrio was sure of that. It was more of an imagination sparked by the metaphysical feeling of the aura, if that made any sense. Then he sensed a power clash with the hostile aura, knowing it was Sov doing all the heavylifting. Well, Sov and brell, he begrudgingly admitted. Also, what the frick was a lightmarked one?
"Braaaaaarshrshrshrshr!", the aura echoed the familiar roar of the beast within Queltsom. The aura tried to overpower the two men's collective might, (Kerrio didn't know how to refer to sov... It sure sounded like a he, but he wasn't certain), and droplets of sweat fell on Brel's forehead. Sov's image also seemed to jerk slightly due to the effort. Kerrio also tried to fight against the aura, but his 16 points of willpower felt like a drop in the bucket. Well, so much for being proud of it. The aura seamed to have at least a sliver of basic intelect, because it somehow tried to overpower the blockade by attempting to penetrate Kerrio's will, which created a vulnerability that the aura wished to exploit. It was analogous to a dented section of armor. Before it could do that, Kerrio cut the flow of his willpower and let the system move it on autopilot. He watched, as his puny aura moved inward, nearing the direction of the essence seed. He instinctually knew that it was almost there, so he redoubled his effort in fighting the angry aura.
It turned out, that when Sov said everyone will struggle, he ment exactly that. No exagerations or anything like that. Kerrio had to struggle harder than anyone else to have more impact on the opposing aura, which became more desperate the closer the essence seed came to Queltsom's spirit. It howled in frustration and rage, and pushed harder and harder against them. Still, they did not stop. In fact, that same aura encouraged the trio to fight back against it. So ironic, right?
"Braaaashrshrshrshrshr! You will not keep me from my freedom, pests! Get off my domain!", its echo yelled, almost causing their concentration to waver. It lashed out, trying to oppress their will and tear it apart.
"I won't let something that cost me 900000 credits just be wasted on this piece of crap of an aura. I'd rather it help someone I can be friends with instead!", he thought resolutely. With strength he didn't know he had, he pushed. His hands split, his blood fell. His head throbbed. His body ached, yet he pushed. He didn't think anymore; he only acted.
He kept pushing against the angry presence, and his body moved on its own. It shambled on, closing in on the bag of essences he had bought from the system store, and plucked out a round, gleaming golden stone. He focused on it and received a system prompt.
"Would you like to absorb the affinity stone of electricity? You already have an electric affinity. This stone will awaken that affinity and turn your magical energy (ME) pool into an electrical energy (EE) pool. Yes/ no?"
Without question, he pressed yes, and his body was engulfed by a flickering and shifting yellow light. Soon, that light hummed and shot out sparks, much like real electricity. Then he screamed. This wasn't a shout of pain, fear, or helplessness. This was a roar of strength. A roar of undeniable power. Fueled by desperation and resolve, he merged that electricity with his willpower. It zapped the anger, causing it to startle in surprise. He screamed yet again and struck even harder. He screamed a third time, and the electricity buzzed harder, with sparks flitting around much quicker.
He pushed it against his will, and the aura howled in deep pain. He screamed yet again, sending sparks surging to dangerous levels. He molded that power and used it to push inward , causing the aura to scream in utter agony. Then the green light appeared. At first, it was dim, barely noticeable. Then it intensified, and the angry aura let out a final roar of promise. A promise of vengeance, then vanished. "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaarshrshrshrshrshrshrshrshrshrshr!".
Kerrio collapsed on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, and a shadowy hand carried him to another bed, covering him to let him get some rest.
"Dead wait, is he?", Sov asked, smiling in pride.
"I was wrong about him. What was that power? I was concentrating so I couldn't look clearly, but I felt that increase in strength; that final push was dramatic; it dwarfed even my power, I tell you!", said Brel, his shoulders relaxing in relief.
"Secrets of the Second Master." You're not allowed to know,", replied Sov. Brel reached out, attempting to scan Sov's mind.
"What the Void? There is no mind there; it's... that's... impossible!", he exclaimed. "That's completely and utterly impossible! Even an instinct-driven creature has a basic mind! You can't not have a mind; that's just absurd! Explain to me how it happened."
"I think you're relying on that mind technique of yours a teeny bit too much there, Brel. I humbly ask you to knock it off before you do something you shouldn't have any reason to do. Come to think of it, I expected you to try that. You should really consider getting rid of that (I will know anything I want to know and nothing is stopping me) attitude, because you won't get far with it. Make no mistake, I am not your friend, nor am I a victim to exploit at your leisure. I am far more than you could ever hope to comprehend with your limited insight, and you would do well to remember that, Brelethro Vergan,", Sov said in a serious tone, creating a tension between the two.
"Relax, relax! Can't I at least sate my curiosity a bit? Chill out, friend. I mean you no harm,", Brel replied.
"Then let us watch the green spectacle!", Sov declared. "And if you ever cause him the slightest of harm outside of training, I will tear you limb from limb myself! On another note, you cannot harm me, not with your current abilities.", Then both of them stopped and looked at Queltsom.
There were a handful of green lights spinning around him in a circle, exuding a pressing force that made everyone present and conscious enough to notice it very uncomfortable. Some of the lights spun faster or slower than the rest, so they weren't in sync. The lights grew bigger, and a new light emerged and started spinning along with the bigger lights. The lights merged with each other and sank into the boy's body, lighting it up with a green color. The light in his body grew brighter and brighter until it hurt to look at, then it started to fade and dim. It finally faded completely, and Queltsom looked very healthy all of a sudden. He didn't look as exhausted as before, which was an oddity for Brel.
"What was that green essence thing anyway? Ah, who am I kidding? That Sov will just yell at me like before if I ask. He's right, I shouldn't have tried to scan his mind; that was my fault,", he thought to himself. "I guess I'll either know about it or I won't."
Jane Silverstar:
Jane sat in her office, dealing with paperwork as always. She was writing a letter for the trade manager of Raiga, the nabering city, to form a commercial relationship between the two settlements. Raiga was known for its abundance of crafters and alchemists, not to mention food suppliers, from whom Elva procured most of its citizens needs. She couldn't help but think about that boy, Queltsom, though. What was the point of torturing him? Did she even want to torture him? Why did she abuse one of her ancestral powers just for the sake of knowing some information that may or may not be true? What if what he actually told her was the truth, and he was really taught by a dragon? How else could a little child withstand that much pain if a dragon didn't somehow build his pain tolerance with rigorous training, or however dragons did things if they actually existed?
What about those dreams she kept having every time she slept, ever since the day she encountered him? And every time, she saw the image of a man wearing an evil smile and a clear image of the boy himself saying one sentence only. "Snap out of it, you old hag! Why are you letting it control you!". How much could one boy affect her like that? She even saw a hint of a strange green marking on the blurry man's image. She didn't know what that green marking was, and she couldn't stop thinking about it even if she tried!
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*Knock knock*! "My lady, it's me. Can I come in?", the muffled voice of Carlos asked from beyond the closed door. It sounded almost sinister. She wasn't sure. It was probably just her ears playing tricks on her.
"Come in, Carlos,", she said. He opened the door and walked in, wearing green robes with a small badge. There it was again—that inescapable sensation that something about this man seemed off and dangerous. She had trusted him ever since he was assigned to her when she was young, so what if she had trusted the wrong person? Her instinct was screaming at her to just arrest him and get it over with, but she decided to wait and observe him a little longer. She felt a portion of herself just get released, like it was restricted somewhere and wasn't allowed to come out before, and Carlos visibly flinched.
"What is wrong, Carlos?", she asked.
"Juss... just the wind, my lady. Don't worry about it; it doesn't hurt any longer!", came the answer.
"Oh, should I close the window for you?", she asked suspiciously. It didn't escape her notice that he had flinched when she noticed the piece of herself being liberated... She felt it again, the sensation from before.
"No, no, my lady, no need for that. Anyway, enough about me; tell me about yourself. How are you doing? I bet that day with Brelethro Vergan's chosen disciple took its toll on you, yes?", he asked.
"I'm alright, Carlos. Thanks for your concern.", she said with a smile.
"You do know you can open up to me, right? I will always help you to the best of my ability, no matter what, my lady,", he said in a gentle voice. How had she not noticed that behavior until now? She felt that sensation briefly. Open up to him? That's what she always did when she had a problem, and he always helped her; he was so kind like that. "Snap out of it, you old hag! Why are you letting it control you?", the flashback came back again, and this wasn't just a random instance of remembering something. It felt more directed and purposeful. It was extremely subtle, but she felt a slight tingling in her head, and she realized what it was. It seemed like someone was whispering to her mind with tiny jolts of mental energy, directing her thoughts down a specific path... Carlos flinched again. Finally, it clicked for her; that same marking she saw in her dreams was on his badge, and she looked at him, certain of her deduction.
Outwardly, she appeared calm. But deep beneath the surface of her composed face, fury bubbled up like volcanium.
"Carlos Ricta, you are under arrest for mind-controlling me, the appointed leader of this village!", Jane told him. Her voice was cold and strident.
"No, milady. I will not let anyone or anything stop me, not after I've put so much work into sculpting your mind and honing your instincts and skills! I will turn you into the perfect core of my being! You should thank me, Jane Silverstar, not arrest me. Oh, how ungreatful you are!", A melodious, poliphonic male voice came from Carlos's now incectile mandibles. There were dozens of tentacles, each sporting a set of mandibles, and every one of them spoke at a different pitch. Then, a terrible head ache assaulted her. Foreign, burning thoughts of destruction and annihilation of anyone who hunted the Dark Legion entered her mind and tried to obliterate all her memories—everything that represented who she was. She screamed in agony and terror.
"Nooooo! Stooooooop! "I want to be me again!", she screeched.
"No, Jane Silverstar, you are meant to be my perfect core; it was supposed to be so from the beginning, so stop fighting back and accept your new reality! Now yield to me, perfect core of mine!", it declared. It was a monster, a jumbled mess of limbs, hands, teeth, and claws, the utter definition of chaos itself. It had mismatched pairs of human and animal hands, claws, and fangs filled with hundreds of writhing, undulating, razor-sharp teeth, all incorporated into a skittering, incectile body that stood about seven feet tall and twice that long. Its body was surrounded by dozens of mandible-filled tentacles, besides the mismatched body parts riddling its surface
"I am the Edaptilium Kagila, and my mission is to unite all the scattered members of the Legion in this world and finally defeat all who stand before us. To that end, I have been orchestrating the assimilation of many sapients so I can rise in power, using you humans as stepping stones to reach my goal. I have finally managed to infiltrate this haven of yours, where no monster dwells but me, and I have prepared all of the dead you've buried to add them to my body. My plan is flawless, and it will succeed... You have no chance, so struggling won't do you any good, perfect core! Ga ga ha ha ha!", it kept rambling. In the background, tears fell down Jane's cheeks as she struggled against her mind without success.
"Chain of the Silver Star!", a younger female voice shouted, and the Edaptilium Kagila was locked in place by a set of platinum chains. A young woman appeared, holding a giant platinum sword in her hands. The sword was decorated with a star motif and absolutely full of runes. She bore a striking resemblance to Jane, but she was more youthful.
"Haah?", she grunted. "Raah!", and struck the chains with the platinum blade. The chains closed in on the monster, changing their shape into a rectangular platinum box. She carried the box and threw it out the open window, causing it to fall on the ground with a glassy thud. Then the box crawled out of the way and into a stand that magically appeared out of nowhere and put itself there. The stand started to write text inside a wooden panel, which said: Dangerous box. Do not open, or you'll destroy us all! I repeat: Do not open the box! Don't even think of doing it!
"Linda, you absolute showoff!", Jane said after wiping her face and gasping in relief.
"There you are, big sis Jane! I've been waiting for so long, and you're finally back!", Linda Silverstar said with a beaming smile. Her grin was so wide it could have split her face off.
"So I'm no longer your pathetic excuse of a sister that can die for all you care?", she asked bluntly. Jane flinched, and her eyes fell to the ground in shame.
"I... I'm sorry Linda I... I didn't mean to... it was all Carlos's fault, he did something to my mind and I started to act all angry and arrogant. Thanks for saving me!", she blurted out. Linda hugged her brefely, then said:
"It's alright! It's nice to see your flustered face again! Hey hey, let's go talk to Brel and apologize to that disciple of his, and ask them to help us fight this thing. We have a month at max, then the box will go boom, and the gyant freaky monster will come out. So we need to train that disciple of his and wip him into shape and you can join in on the fun too while you're at it!", she said too quickly.
"Hey, slow down, Lin! Let me get this straight. You know Brelethro Vergan?", Jane asked to confirm.
"Yes.", Linda replied.
"The wielder of the cloak of rumers himself?", Jane asked again, as if there was another Brelethro Vergan somewhere that wasn't the man who defeated her after she ambushed him when she was still influenced by the monster.
"Yes.", Linda answered indifferently, as if the implication of that didn't matter to her.
"What were you doing?", Jane asked.
"I'm learning how to be sneaky, so I could kill Carlos someday. Now I know that he's not even human, so what remorse I felt toward him before is gone,", Linda said darkly. "But hey. I can tell them about you and your mind control thing, and they'll forgive you for sure!", she added cheerfully.
"Are you certain?", Jane asked.
"Probably,", Linda answered.
Well, that's not reassuring,", Jane muttered.
"Let's get ready. When that disciple wakes up, Brel will teach him how to better blow things up, I'll teach him how to be sneaky, and you teach him about the world's jagrafy,", Linda suggested with finality.
"It's geography, Linda.", Jane corrected.
Well, I don't care about complicated things like that. Give me somebody to sneak upon and kill? Sure, that's as easy as waving. Speak about complicated words like jiagrafy or mamathetics. Nope! Not happening!", the eccentric woman answered.
"It's mathematics, Linda,", Jane said, exasperated.
"Anyways, let's go finish your work and get out of this boring excuse of a room, and go walk and talk to our new friends! I'm excited to see that disciple; I've heard he almost managed to beat Brel; if he were only more efficient with his energy use, he would have beaten him to a pulp! He even managed to copy Brel's staff's move, although in a less boomy way. Can you believe it?", Linda asked excitedly.
"Weren't you saying I should finish my work less than five seconds ago? Let me finish it then!", Jane said to her.
"Sure, sorry!", Linda replied sheepishly.
Jane returned to her work, vowing not to let that happen again. She knew she was lucky enough to have been saved from turning into a puppet, and she would make sure to protect herself from mental manipulation. She would repay little Queltsom for helping her by teaching him all she knew about the world and providing him with everything he'll ever need. It's the least she can do as compensation for trying to kidnap him and enslave him when he woke up, and about that time when she caused him a lot of pain... Yeah, she'd rather not think about that.