Chapter 13: Betrayal and Loyalty

A stabbing pain erupts from my stomach. My nerves send lightning through my body. My eyes open revealing a series of moonlit villagers with manic expressions. Morne stares at me from the back of the group keeping the door open. The pain intensifies. He let these mongrels inside. He betrayed me.

Deluge feels my anguish. I spent many weeks here working for this villages loyalty and love. These villagers I sweat and bleed for abandoned me. 

No. They entrap me. My parents were stolen from me by nature leaving me alone. Now I am expunged after being assaulted. Every single action I've done over the last two months has been meaningless. To these people, I mean absolutely nothing. My very thoughts are petty. Trivial. Frivolous. I am null.

Another villager stabs me in the stomach. The heartache and woe somehow overwhelm the cutting, responsive pain. I lament with such a sharp and vivid scream that the villagers gasp in terror. The reprieve lives and dies in an instant as another man stabs me.

I can’t fight back. I muster all of my will into a single point; there is nothing left. I shrivel and wilt. I feel my throat clench while my eyes cloud. Deluge screams, but I do not listen. The villagers continue stabbing me. All I can do is ball up and weep. Weakness implodes. I collapse.

I've tried so hard for so long. I can’t anymore. I simply cannot take another step. Too much ails me, and I have no medicine. My parents died leaving me no support. I live three months enslaved. I am attacked by bandits. I murder two people, yet I have no one I can hide the secret from. I am berated by a parasite. I am abandoned by my home once more. I will be murdered by what I believed were new friends.

Too much. Everything is too much. I let darkness consume me.

Deluge unravels.

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“Arrrgghhhhhhh. Rahh.” I boom a deafening roar.

The villagers stun. I splat blood all over them. I will hunt every single one of these monsters down. I reform my body. Jack is tattered beyond repair. Only time may heal his mental wounds.

I jump from my bed with my body falling piece by piece. I shatter the window with my fist before I shove my body through the crevice. I morph my body fitting through the hole. They pierce my back with spears. It matters not. I fall from the third story onto the ground with a splat. I morph my body into a more suitable shape for running with longer arms so I may sprint on all four limbs.

I sprint towards the forest. I run for another fifteen minutes. They make the current Jack out like he’s a demon. I shall show them a demon. I anger with intensity bordering the unknown. My wrath shall remain unquenched until every single face in that room dies. I shall rend their very existence from this earth. All of their blood lines end here. They face armageddon.

I find a stream where I drink water. I enhance my hearing and sense of smell so I may hunt for food. I need sustenance for regenerating.

I hear insects all around me. I scavenge them until I smell the trail of a squirrel. I sprint towards the tree the creature resides in. I grow claws then scramble up the tree. The squirrel tries escaping. I kill it with a single grasp by breaking the spine of the creature.

I consume its flesh. The savory meat ignites my hunger further. I look around finding many trees with many squirrels. 

Hours later, the forest’s population of squirrels dwindles. I have finally satiated my hunger. While reinforcing Jack’s composition, I smell of more prey. I change my eyes so I may see through dusk.  The torches of the villagers light portions of the forest. They give beacons for their destruction.

They attempt destroying me with puny search parties. They shall regret their foolishness.

I morph the squirrel flesh and bone into protracted, serrated claws on one of my hands while using the other portions for strength in my other arm. I strengthen and widen my jaw. I scrape a tree attracting their attention before I crawl up another tree waiting in ambush.

They walk closer with knives and swords. They reach the tree I scratched. As they observe the tear in the bark, I pounce from the tree I lie waiting on.

I land on a man’s shoulders as I slice his neck with my clawed hand. His blood spurts from the gaping wound before I grab another adjacent man's neck jerking with strength and might. A moist, sodden snap sounds from my hand. A chorus of exquisite screams lace the air. My mind hearkens the call for blood and destruction.

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I rip at nearby humans with the chaos and feverish intensity of an enraged animal. I amalgamate with rampage. I meld in bloodshed. These ingrates wish a hell upon Jack. I shall show the same upon them. I engrave the meaning of misfortune and torture on their souls. I create a living, breathing purgatory, and I am the only asylum from its fires. Only agonizing death escapes my ceaseless tormenting.

I relentlessly pursue the scent of my prey. The vermin flee and run, but they cannot depart. I gorge upon their aromas and flesh. My blood from earlier alerts me of their presence. I know of their roots. I know of every descendant. I shall liberate them from this world.

Hours of carnage pass. What was once hell becomes a forest once more. I kill all that tread here. I absorb enough matter that my mass densifies and grows, so I stand well over seven feet of gnarled, crooked muscle and tendon. I reorganize myself until I appear human again. I head towards the village as a behemoth.

I use scent for locating the blood brothers of my victims. None shall escape the fall. I run towards each house of the victims. For the children and the innocent, I consolidate them offering an instant death. The process is painful, but they now flow together for eternity. They heed my summons. They listen rather than command. Strange.

I annihilate all of the presences of the vile, repulsive ilk who assaulted Jack along with all of their families. I stand among a pile of devoured corpses laughing. I succeeded...

Yet there remains no difference. Jack lies in shambles within my subconscious. I cannot atone for the sins of another with mere death. All I have done is murder all who dare transgress against us.

I call for Jack. His weeping grates against my ears.  I feel the void of his spirit, the abyss of his soul. He believes he lays in ruin. I beckon for him. He does not resist. I show him consolidation.

The minds within me gently waft within their home. The essence of the people think as one. They believe as one. I gaze at their harmony. Jack enters the collection of minds. He seems happy. I branch out towarsd him, but I sense only the collective. He is no more.

I revel in my progress. I now control my host. Jack exists no longer. I can't smile. Something is wrong. My fake happiness bends under the gravity of Jack’s absence. I lead this flock, yet I lead when lost. I should be happy. I have overwhelmed Jack.

Yet misery pervades the achievement. Jack’s broken soul twists my mind. A revenant remains from his shell. Empty helplessness punctures a hole in my chest. My throat burns. I wrap my arms around myself. I don’t understand what's happening.

My eyes grow opaque lenses. My face swells with blood. Water falls from my face. My nose fills with liquid. Breath eludes me.  I check my surroundings. What’s happening? I panic. My own body rejects my commands. The pain continues, yet I find no assailant. I am alone.

Jack incarnates for me. He says, “It’s ok Deluge.”

I look around while shouting toward him, “No! It's not! Whats happening to me...Am I dying?“

Jack tells me with gentle happiness, “No Deluge...You're crying.”

I pause for a time before I say, “Why am I sad? I should be happy. You were accepting consolidation. I would be able to work towards my ambition...The world feels so large and so empty Jack...Why?”

Jack replies, “I don’t know Deluge, but I decided after seeing your dismay. I am no longer alone. We are not alone Deluge.”

Relief crashes into me drowning the torment with waves of respite. My chest expands allowing air refuge. My body and mind lightens. I say, “Thank you for not leaving me Jack.”

He replies, “I cannot abandon my savior can I? We have so much left to do. You saved me once again Deluge.”

“What have I done? I simply wept in self pity.”

Jack argues, “Did you? I saw a brother alone. I saw a deserted chasm.”

“I saw light.”