Third party PoV
In a dark back alley of Fenshou, long past the festive hours of the night. The bright moon overhead lit up the narrow street. Down on the pavement was an older man, unaware of the danger that was befalling onto him. Face down against the cold paved stone, kowtowing and begging. Xu Yong, that was his name.
Surnamed Xu was not what Huan had expected her once upon a time captors to look like. The man was clothed barely better than members of the beggar sect, holes in his vestments, dirt and grim caked all over them and his body. Yet what made the man even more dissonant with the image in her mind, was the desperate act of kindness he had done. Pulling aside two women, women he didn’t know. To hide them from a group of miscreant men with barely concealed intentions. In any other context she would have rewarded the man. Yet only rage and murder was on her mind as he revealed his past sins to her.
“DOWN.” The tone was firm, the pitch low and commanding as Huan felt a stray energy flood her body from her hand. Her muscles seized and spasmed as she lost all powers in her legs, crashing back in Iulia’s arms.
The shock was soon overwhelmed by more rage, disgust sneaking in the woman’s heart as she snarled: “ WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The energy coursing through her body was one she was well accustomed to by now. It was Iulia’s, the woman she had begun to trust more than anyone.
‘I should have known she was like the rest! You should have seen the sign Huan! How can you be so stupid to believe she was any better?! All that kindness and trust was a trap, and you fell for it. You are a stupid girl!’ The thought shot through her mind as she screamed, forcing her Ki to cycle through her body, trying to force the paralysis away.
She glared at the woman standing above her, tears welling in her eyes as she struggled. Despair and hatred filled her heart as she kept pushing, her face turning into one of hatred and rage.
“Huan yo-” “Not a word! You betrayer! I thought I could trust you. That you would support me. But I shouldn’t have expected anything, not from someone like you. You are like the rest! Using Kindness and softness to bend others to your will!” Iulia recoiled at the words Huan said. her face that once showed genuine concern turned into one of hurt and sadness, yet the worry was still in her eyes.
Part of Huan was horrified by that, by the words that came out of her mouth. By how she was burning this bridge with the woman she wanted to know more about. Yet another was at its wit’s end, she couldn’t believe how much anger she was feeling, toward Iulia, this Xu Yong she just met. How she wanted to make him suffer, how her mind brought up all kinds of ways to make sure he was in pain for the longest possible time. How to keep him alive while still torturing him. And despite the horror at the darkness of her mind, the disgust of how she actually wanted to do such things even though she has sworn herself to be better.
Doubts finally crept in her mind, the opposite parts of her mind at war. Yet her body turned more and more powerful the more she wanted to harm the man. Her Ki churning more and more violently on its own, somehow feeling more potent than before, but also more heavy and gross.
“Huan, listen to me girl. You can’t kill people like that, didn’t you say you wanted to be better than those people? That you wanted to make a difference? Killing someone in cold blood is not the way.”
‘She lies! She is trying to manipulate you again, you are better than this Huan. And you won’t let this woman control you like Wu Chang did.’ The thought that pushed her to act, the one making her rage and disgust rise came at the forefront of her mind again. And with it her Ki circulated faster, thrumming with even more power than before. More potent and thick, almost like a sludge as it started filling her body, slowly entering her dantian.
She wanted to lash out, to punish the woman that gave her false hope. That helped her only to get closer to her, to enter past her walls. ‘That’s why she appeared that night! Waiting on someone vulnerable to sink her fangs in, and fill your head with venom. You can’t trust her. You never could.’ She felt her thoughts echoing with her pain, memories of her time when she was but a naive girl, too trusting for her own good resurfacing.
Her Ki had finally worn out the sorceress’ energy paralysing her, allowing the cultivator to finally stand up. Her legs were still shaky as the spasms had made her weaker than she expected. But that too, was but a fleeting after thought as the thick sludge like Ki energised her body. A thick, dark blood like smoke poured from the pore of her skin as she smiled a manic smile. Huan had never felt so powerful before in her entire life.
‘Like I could reach out to the stars and pluck the moon down from the heavens. Or Erase this whole city from the face of the earth…’ Her frantic turned back into a snarl as she towered above Iulia. The small and delicate woman she thought she could trust was looking at her with fear and sadness.
‘Why?’
‘Because she lost her grasp on you, she lost her puppet. Of course she would be sad. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have her instead. Have her Bend to your will.’
‘Yes… Maybe…’
“Huan, this is my last warning. Don’t do it,If you kill him, you’ll have no more way to get a lead on the rest of the people that did this to you. You know that, right?” The simple truth the sorceress utter was like a lightning strike flashing through her mind.
‘She is right.’ ‘NO! She lies again! You can’t believe her!’ The thought, no. A voice, there was something in her mind. Something that wasn’t her. Something that was pushing her, doing something to her. Her sight was clouded, her eyes filled with smoke and hatred as she felt something trying to pierce into her core.
Demonic Ki, her entire body was filled with demonic Ki! And there was already so much of it inside of her dantian, trying to corrupt her core.
‘RAAAAAAH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” What started as a cry of pain and despair inside her own mind pierced through the veil of her mind into the world outside. Her face tensed with pain. Her hands shooting to her head as a massive throbbing pain lanced through her body. Her voice deep and twisted by the demonic Ki, coming out like sharp claws raking her throat. The wail of pain and madness breaking the silent veil of the night.
Huan could finally feel what was going on, how parts of her mind had become silent. How her memories were dug into and brought to fuel her rage and desire for revenge on a silver platter. How her more recent memories of her times spent with Iulia became dull and grey. The emotions inside muted, like an washed out image of what was once radiant and lively. How everything was funnelled in her blind rage and desire for revenge, making everything she had felt tainted by hatred. The good and the bad.
Iulia knew what was going on, yet she had been sworn to let her face it on her own. As much as it had hurt her, she had kept her words. Both promises: to Huan, to support her in her desire for revenge but also to let her fight her own fights on her own. And to her grandfather, to watch over Huan and not allow her to go down a path she would regret.
Hearing the words Huan had told her, seeing how ready she was to take a life. Despite everything that had happened; how the man had pulled them away from an encounter with would be rapists. How the man was worried about kids, and that despite that he still helped them.
“Hey, got a safe place?” She asked him. Pulling on the memory of their earlier encounter with the group of men, she uses the disgust that is inside of it to colour her ink. A faint green energy wraps tight around them, creating a barrier to stop all sounds from leaving its confine.
The man lifted his head only to see what was going on, his face petrified in a display of confusion and fear.
“Get up and start walking to a safe place, now.” Iulia’s tone turned harsher as the eyes on her skin started opening, their red iris starting to pulse with a glow of the same hue.
His eyes bounced from one woman to the other. He knew whatever was happening was far above his concern. For the way the young looking fairy was glaring at him with eyes that were not her human ones made it clear that he would end up on the chopping block if he didn’t obey.
“A-at once. P-please f-follow me.” Xu Yong jumped to his feet, his heart sinking further and further as he saw what was happening to the other woman.
Iulia grabbed Huan by the hand and swept her in her arms. Her muscles tearing and repairing at increased pace, slowly increasing their volume and density as she ground her teeth, enduring the pain.
‘Consequences be damned, I can’t let her like this.’ She thought, looking at how her partner was recoiling in pain during a battle of her own. ‘Fight on, Huan. You can do it.’ She prayed, following the man deeper in the serpentine and narrow path between the buildings. The pavement grew roughed and more damaged the further they went, the buildings around now looking more dilapidated. The damages were repaired with hasty makeshift solutions, probably using whatever means the people around her hand on hand.
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“Here, but please. Try to keep her calm. There’s many families living around here.” He said , keeping his voice down as he opened the door to one of the houses with a thick bronze key. Putting his finger on his mouth as he made signs for them to follow in.
He quickly closed the door and barred it with a large wooden plank. Moving with agility in the dark.
Feeling Huan struggles winding down, Iulia sets her down at her feet before erasing her biomancy spell. The fear of losing Huan shoved back into the memory. ‘The rebound is coming, and this one will be more intense.’
The apprentice painter had done something that her teacher had forbidden: reaching for more power when she knew she could handle. Yet, when the rebound: the echo of the Everflow, came climbing back through her body, forcing the passage through her Inkwell. She found it much weaker than she had expected: the overwhelming wave of fear that she had once felt when Huan had started acting up, the fear of losing the woman to whatever was happening to her. Crumbled like mist on the wall of her will, and in doing so, informed her.
She was ready. And has been ever since she promised herself to do whatever it took to see to Huan’s safety: consequences be damned.
Yet this was no time to rejoice, drawing a quick spell: searching through her memories of a time filled with acceptance, of trust. ‘The day Huan pulled me out of my state of rot. When she said she wanted to know me more, to be my friend. That friend helps each other in their times of need.’ The memory of the conversation was rich and diverse, but the trust that came from it was than enough for what she needed.
Picturing a glowing creature of light and life, of nature and healing: she called for it. She didn’t know if they existed in this world, or if she could reach the ones she knew back home. But she tried nonetheless, the price not a concern to her anymore.
The air shimmered as purple ink came out in waves from her, thick and dense: glowing with potent energy as it called through the realms. For but a mere moment she felt herself be pulled out of her body, her mind and soul bare through a raging river, cold and uncaring. She could see many wisps all around her, all enduring the torrent she was in, yet two things caught her attention. One of the wisps, the one closest to her, was struggling: it was radiant white like the others she could see, and a sick sludge of red and black was drowning it. The other was a large hand, iridescent and growing as it got closer. Seamlessly pushing all the wisps around without disturbing them as it got closer.
Iulia wanted to scream, yet in this form she had no mouth to do so as the behemoth’s hand closed the distance faster than she could process. There it was, before her: A wall of rainbow, ever changing and shifting, forms and protrusion coming out of it. Shapes that her mind started to recognise thanks to her pattern recognition, only for them to become something else.
And just as fast as it happened, she was back in the dark house, inside of her own body once more. Her call was successful, as standing aloft in the air was the being she had drawn with her ink. One she knew all too well, looking at her with shock and recognition as it lit up the place with the light of dawn. A spirit, one of nature itself as it appeared like an ash tree taking the form of a wildKin Cappy: moss in place of fur, leaves for hair and branches woven together to form the limbs.
The panic and horror of what she had witnessed disappeared without her consent or ability to do anything about it. Leaving behind only the sight of what she had witnessed, robbing her of the paralysing dread that nearly broke her.
[You are far from Home apprentice Iulia. Or rather, should I call you adept? But you didn’t call me to boast, you aren’t the type.] The being had extended a limb toward her, a large paw made of Ash tree tapping her forehead. The growing madness ebbing and calming as it pulled its arm back.
[There. We will talk later about what you saw, my young friend. For now, go calm that man there while I take care of whatever being is trying to consume this one’s soul.] The words made her snap back to reality. Her brain made the connection: between the otherworldly sight of the sludge covered wisp, and what the spirit had just said.
[ Leave her to me before that man starts losing it. I cannot be distracted, nor can this young one either.] she was pushed aside; the sorceress wanted to retort, to complain that she wanted to help as well. But she knew she would only be a nuisance to the spirit. So she moved on, setting her sight on the discombobulated man that brought them to this place.
‘This is going to be a long night.’
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Lu Huan’s PoV
I was surrounded by darkness. Trapped in my own mind. The voice, now a dark figure, kept taunting me. Wearing my face as their own, using my voice as their own.
“It’s already too late, Huan. You know this was going to happen sooner or later. Your body is already under my control, already perfect for me to take over. Even despite the lack of demonic Ki, your mortal physique is one of ours: Demonic through and through.” She smiled using my own face, making it look easy too as they walked around me. I was neck deep into the sludge of demonic Ki, and they walked on it, circling around me like a carrion bird.
“I may have a demonic physique, but I never harmed any innocents! If you are who you think you are, then you should know that much already! All of this demonic Ki comes from my own suffering. Compared to true Demonic Ki, it pales in comparison. Just like you are, weak!” I spat, looking at my inner demon’s eyes as they twinkled with malice. A predatory smile on their lips.
Then she stomped the sludge, something heavy colliding with me as I let out a groan of pain. Nearly dropping my focus on resisting it.
“Weak, am I? I nearly made you break with nothing but a step. Yet you call me weak?” She walked to me, squatting right before me, her hand grasping my hair.
“If I am weak, so are you. If you are persistent, so am I. Whatever you do, I can too. And you are right. I am what you are thinking of: I am the rage that fuels you. I am the fear that saves you. I am the pain that makes it real. I am the desire to make them kneel.”
“No…”
“Say it, say who I am. You know the truth, even if you lie. I was always there, to care for you when other’s didn’t, I took your pain when you couldn’t feel. I’ve kept your dream, and made it real. Yet you can’t say my name?” She clicked her tongue three times, shaking her head in disappointment. Letting go of me as she stood back up.
I couldn’t say it, couldn’t even think of it. The mere agreement with this creature would allow it to go further in. To consume me and wear my body as a mask.
I can’t do anything, not anymore. My body is lost to me, my dantian filled to the brim with Demonic Ki. If I lose here, and let her enter my Core, it will be the end of me.
“It seems we do not have time to play around anymore.” She said, annoyance and resentment in her voice as she returned to face me. The sludge all around me began to pull me deeper in as she knelt, taking my face in her hand and started to squeeze.
“Yield! Give me your body Huan. It is not yours anymore. Give it to me, let me in and I will fulfill your every desire, even those you refuse to acknowledge.” I closed my eyes as the demonic Ki started washing over my face. I felt her hands digging into my flesh, like rusted knives scraping meat off the bones, her voice came from all around me all at once. But I held, enduring the pain. Enduring the loneliness as I started suffocating. My body is beginning to be crushed by the weight of everything.
“Let me punish the fools who hurt us, who took mom from us. Who took our life of joy and peace and broke it.” The other became more and more frantic, not caring anymore about subtlety as a sudden flare of pain rocked through my body before losing all sensation in my arms and legs.
“LET ME IN, HUAN! YOU NEED ME!” I held, and held. All other senses were lost as I kept holding. No matter how loud she is crying, how much of my body she takes. I won’t yield. Never.
I do not know how long it has been since I’ve last heard the demon calling out to me. Nor how many times have passed since I've been floating around weightless, aimless. But I held firm. It is the only thing I can do anymore, the rest of me is probably gone, cut apart and mixed somewhere in this mud.
Yet after some time, the cold slime that was the demonic Ki started to warm up. Slow at first, but gradual. Increasing and becoming comfortable as I felt something touch me, whatever me was at this point.
[There you are, little one. You’ve done a fantastic job, whatever that creature was, It fled away in the deepest recess of your mind. It didn’t seem to enjoy my light and warmth. You are free to join, unknown being of malice. I do not discriminate against your kind, should you know how to behave of course.] The voice said, calling out to the inner demon. Its amused chuckle and invitation met with a shrill of anger and fear.
“LEAVE THIS PLACE! YOU DON’T BELONG HERE, SHE IS MINE! MINE!”
[Yet she refused. And thus you have no more power here. So why keep being so confrontational? Oooooh, it left. I am sure they will be back in time. I think it is a grand time for me to do my summoners bidding. Come little one, let us leave this dreary place and fix you up.] It patted my head, or what I think counted as that as I felt feelings and sensation returning to me.
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I opened my eyes wide. Breathing in hard as I wake up.
[ There she is. I do not know where you found this one my young friend, but she is a testament to your kind’s willpower and resilience. ] A large rodent made of light stood over me as a voice echoed in my head. But unlike the other, this one didn”t masquerade as my own.
I Don’t even have time to think that I am tackled hard onto the floor, something heavy blocking all lights above me..
“Huan! For fuck sakes, are you alright?!” A voice I knew came from above as two bizarrely strong arms wrapped themselves around me. Hugging me tight, far tighter than I was used to. I moved my arms to hug her back as I remembered what happened. Feeling Guilty and ashamed.
“I-I think I am.” She pushed away, her large mane of curly hair now letting the light through as I looked at her. Her eyes were red and filled with tears. Her hands leaving my back and grabbing my collar.
“Good, you better be! I do not know what I would have done with myself if you didn’t. You are a lucky and impossibly stubborn woman, you know that?” She starts shaking up. Her anger and sadness mellow into relief as she pushes herself close to me. Pressing her lips against mine.
‘What?’ I freeze over. Watching her kiss me before pulling away. Her face is red, as I feel my own heating up too. Her lips curving up as she bites her lower lip.
“You are so lucky I love you, you idiot. That’s it. From tomorrow on, you forget about cultivation until I teach you sorcery. I don’t want to see even a drop of ki except from your core, am I understood?” She looks at me, a grin on her lips as her hands keep me still.
I babble, words failing me as I nod. My face turned into a big dumb grin that I can’t stop.
“Good girl. The longer you stay alive and good, the more of these we will be able to have.” She pulls me back to her, kissing me again. But this time, I am ready as I kiss her back.