Jonathan Tillman, Level 23 Son of Flame
Tilly’s insides were boiling over into an exquisite mixture of burning flesh and eviscerated organs. As soon as he had begun to approach the Flower, the Corruption within him had started to struggle, resisting his movements and causing him pain, but it was nothing his crazy Endurance couldn’t counterbalance.
But as he cleared the trees, the warnings turned into waves of frenzied attacks that increased in intensity the closer he got to the Flower. He started to wheeze, then cough up blood as the Corruption’s internal network of branching feelers flexed and pierced his internal organs. Even with Tilly's Mana-reinforced internal structures, the damage moved from dangerous, to severe, to catastrophic as he attempted to push through the last 50 feet to their goal.
He felt Kindle's consciousness blaze into his mind, taking in the damage he was experiencing along with its source, ‘Do not die, Bonded! I am coming. I have just remembered something important!’
Tilly sent back a vague assent as more and more of his will was demanded in the struggle to keep moving forward.
Step after grinding step, he pushed, picking up the Internal Bleeding Debuff, and watching it slowly stack until Organ Failure joined it on his HUD. None of that mattered to Tilly... His mind's eye was fixed on the fight going on just past the mountains. He would not waste their sacrifice!
After an eternity of agony, he attempted to clear his blurry eyes of the film of tears that were free-flowing, seeing the Bloom just a few feet away. Massive Hemorrhaging appeared next to the other Debuffs, rounding out the trio. As soon as it locked into place, strength drained from his limbs like water from a tub, and he stumbled to the ground, struggling to breathe, his eyes still fixed on the Bloom, barely out of reach. His torso was a mess, abdominal muscles shredded in their attempt to contain the furry of the Corrupted tendrils. He tried and failed, to pull his legs under him, finding some essential connection missing...
A wet gurgling gasp sounded next to him, reminding him that he was not alone in this agony. straining the mostly intact muscles of his neck, he looked up to see Amelia still stumbling forward, a grim scowl pulling down the corners of her mouth as her own invader attempted to keep them from their goal.
“Don’t stop… *Cough* One of us has to make it.” He wheezed through needle-filled lungs. The fire flowing through his mana pathways burned the Corruption every place they intercepted attempted to combat its mindless attacks but this only resulted in further internal damage to Tilly’s ruined organs. He blinked as a blurry shadow passed him by, and felt something small and cold settle into his hands. He uncorked the object and lifted it to his lips, the motion more a memory than a conscious decision.
He coughed wetly as it went down and his focus returned as he watched in some satisfaction a few moments later when Amelia fell to her knees and lifted her hand to touch the Flower. At that moment, as the unnatural healing rushed through his body attempting to combat the massive damage being leveraged against him, he thought of his ex-wife. Not the woman he had known near the end when their relationship had devolved into a bitter shriveled ghost of itself. No, watching Amelia fight tooth and nail to do what no one else could, reminded him of Laura at her best. Tough as old leather, yet relentless in their support of those in their care.
The Flower's music rose victoriously at her touch and Amelia sat there for a breath or two before the melody began to fade, whispering into silence. Then to his dismay, the Flower dissolved into motes of light. Tilly managed a grunt of shock as he watched the Facet disappear. In an almost comical mirror of this turn of events, the temporary spike in his Health ran out as the potion's magic waned before the furious onslaught of his internal enemy. The fact that he had any Health left at all was truly a testament to the stubborn nature of his Endurance-infused body.
Through the gut-wrenching pain, Tilly watched the motes of light dance through the air and swirl into a vortex that centered on Amelia’s core. As the song faded in its entirety, the motes completely vanished into their chosen vessel.
'Ha!' Tilly thought triumphantly, cracking a bloody smile at the sight. If that wasn't a good sign, he didn't know what was.
Then a new sound arose, completely replacing the sweet music that only just faded. A multitude of screams tore through the air toward them. A brutally disfigured Prime Dirge appeared over the near horizon and crashed into the ground before Amelia, tearing a huge furrow in the previously vibrant carpet of grass and clover.
“What Have You Done!?!?” The cacophony of discordant voices screamed from hundreds of mouths all over the muscular grey and purple-skinned creature. Its fight with Thunder Descends had obviously not been one-sided, and the waxy molting of severely burned skin covered its once sleek form. Yet, even wounded, its presence completely overwhelmed Tilly. The Prime Dirge struggled to its feet, looking around in momentary confusion, before centering its attention on Amelia and lifting its arm almost curiously.
Tilly’s health ticked down to 1% and he desperately activated [Resolute] as he fought against the mental weight that had settled down over him like cement. Darkness crept in on all sides, surrounding the scene of their failure like the curtain closing on the final act of a play.
The Title kicked in, and all the damage he was receiving from his internal trauma ceased just as Kindle’s burning presence entered his peripheries, high in the sky.
‘Bonded, I need your Mana!’ Kindle sent urgently as Tilly hovered dangerously close to the edge of death. The horrifying slurry that was now his internal organs had somehow been stabilized by [Resolute], muting the battle between his flame and the juvenile Seed of Corruption, yet it had all been for nothing. The Prime Dirge stood before them, gravely injured, but still far beyond their power to resist.
Kindle’s words stoked what little will Tilly had left, revealing a minute avenue of opposition, as a final desperate hope flickered back to life in Tilly’s mind. A glowing sigil lit up on the back of his right hand and in it, Tilly could feel the straining need of his Bond. Tilly raged against the Aura that blanketed the area, pulling on his wild desperation to lift his arm and throw every bit of Mana he had into the link, launching it toward the phoenix.
Far above them, Kindle wheeled into a dive, her distant speck bursting into a startling brightness.
Warning, Your Bond has activated the Sun’s Final Descent. This has a 77% chance of severing your connection forever, do you accept?”
Y/N
A scream seemed to scrape Amelia's throat raw as its claws began to dig into her abdomen curiously, its voice mellowing into a warm chuckle, “Ah, I see. You tucked it away. Unfortunately, dearest, flesh is something of a special-” Its words cut off as it whipped its head around in search of the sudden feeling of danger.
Tilly slammed yes mentally and felt his Bond swell dangerously as it drew in all of his flame and demanded more. So even as he watched the horror unfolding before him, he shoved everything he had into the connection. His manic need to do something, his longing to live, even his overwhelming desire to be finally free of the Corruption that had poisoned almost every moment of his new life. All of it became fuel for the righteous sun of anger bearing down on them.
The Prime Dirge narrowed his eyes and jerked his bloody hand away from Amelia's torso, glaring up as it found the source of the impending attack. Kindle plummeted through the air like a shooting star, burning with azure intensity. His disdainful frown turned into a grimace as Kindle’s burning redoubled into a burst of supernova-like blazing only a few feet from impact. Her fierce cry tore through the valley in defiant opposition.
At that moment, having poured all of himself into the bond, Tilly understood Kindle's nature. No Phoenix died of old age, they burned ever brighter until a suitable end was found, then they crashed against that end with the full explosive weight of their fire.
[Resolute] snapped, withdrawing whatever system governed protection it had levied against Tilly’s grievous injuries. His Health ticked down to zero, the final chime on an old clock, and his perspective careened downward as the final vestiges of strength left his body. The Prime Dirge tensed to dash away from the suddenly deadly attack, recognizing its end.
‘Tilly! Do Not Give In!’ Kindle screamed into his soul through their straining bond.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He fell face first, as thick roots surged up from the ground in front of him, snaring the Prime Dirge's clawed feet as it attempted to push away from the impact sight.
There was no collision as he hit the ground. It was almost as if he kept falling, plunging ever deeper into an endless darkness...
Behind him, worlds away, there was an earth-shattering roar, followed by a burning heat. That burning plunged deep into Tilly's body, chasing his soul into its darkness and reaching across the seemingly endless divide to establish a tenuous but vibrant connection.
…
Amelia Cooper - Level 40 Botanist Surveyor
A scream tore itself from her lips as the most terrifying being that she had ever seen casually reached into her flesh and began digging around. It was just on the verge of grasping the explosive energy that had hidden away in her core when its eyes narrowed and it pulled its hand free with a wet sucking sound.
If Amelia had not been held fast by the overwhelming aura that poured off the injured Prime Dirge she would have collapsed in a boneless heap. The trauma of her badly damaged midsection being violated in such a way almost pushed her over the edge.
But as the creature looked up, the disdain on its face morphed into something resembling fear, she felt the faintest glimmer of defiance shine out from her core connecting with the vibrant energy of the Facet and flooding her Pathways with power. Time slowed to a crawl as her senses expanded to an extraordinary degree and she began to absorb the Primal energy spinning in her center.
An awful heat bloomed above her, and she found herself grinning as she vindictively channeled the torrent of energy into the ground below herself and the Dirge. The many rooting plants lying hidden underground instantaneously mutated into monstrously thick versions of themselves and shot out of the ground to tangle the horror’s legs, even as it attempted to jump away and dodge whatever judgment had come to claim it.
‘Oh no you don’t. Whatever this is, it's here for both of us.’ She mentally exclaimed satisfaction washing through her battered soul as time shuddered back into motion and a white supernova crashed into the creature, vaporizing Amelia’s world and incinerating the center of the valley.
The blast washed over her, strangely pleasant to most of her senses. However, the area of her body that had been ravaged by Corruption sizzled as white-hot fingers of fire traced their way through the twisting paths of its infection, violently cleansing the area.
Almost before the pain could register, the energy overflowing from her core rushed in to fill the space left by the burning furrows through her flesh. A furious itching filled the blackened voids and her body reknit itself in a spontaneous and incredible burst of regrowth.
Her eyes popped open, finding her surroundings completely changed with ash falling all around them like a gentle snow. She urgently patted her body, surprised to see that even her clothes had gone unsinged, but as she lifted her shirt, the messy infected handprint that had covered over the site of her infection was completely gone. Instead, the area over her stomach showed only restored pink skin.
She looked up in wonder, finding the Prime Dirge had been reduced to a ruined husk in the middle of the impact site. She almost spat on the thing in vindictive triumph before a thought struck her, shattering her moment of victory. Her eyes widened, and she urgently scanned the area, until she spotted him, lying face down under a pile of ash.
“Jonathan!” She shouted, rushing over and collapsing to her knees next to the body, grabbing his shoulder and hauling him over to lay on his back. His lifeless eyes stared blankly into the cloudy sky.
“No, no, no!” she sputtered in confusion. She lifted his jacket to find his own gristly scarring wide open and charred, revealing a large amount of gore and burnt tissue. The Corruption had been burned out of him too, but without the growth energy of the Bloom, he had nothing to save him.
“This can’t be the end…You were so close!” she cried, refusing to believe her eyes. Her core was already full to bursting again, and she took all that energy and shoved it out through her hands into the ruined body before her.
She was shocked to see the flesh start to regrow, as networks of fat, muscle, and skin were rewoven, pulling deeply on the seemingly endless energy of the Bloom. Hope burst through the damn of her denial and she eagerly watched his face for any flicker of movement. But even as his body regrew from its terrible wounds, his eyes remained empty.
A gasping sob escaped her mouth as the reality of the situation hit her. The power of the Bloom continued to sing in her blood, flooding her pathways with possibility, but even with all of that, she could do nothing to reach wherever he had gone…
She gently took his hand, looking down sadly at his slack expression, almost peaceful in its emptiness. The tears came quietly after the first sob… all of that and in the end, the voice had been right.
She hadn’t been enough.
A strange itch started to tingle under her palm, as she took a final moment to mourn her friend. Then the sensation flared painfully, and she snatched her hand away, finding a glowing rune shining on the back of Jonathan's hand. Belatedly, she realized that something had been pulling the Facet’s energy through her hand.
As soon as her strained mind caught up with what had just happened, she grabbed at the hand glowing with the strange rune. Again the Facet’s power began to flow into the mark, completely outside of her control. Ignoring the pain that this was causing, she pushed more of the foreign power into the mark, which seemed to be able to drink in the energy like water on parched sand.
The Pathways down her arms began to burn with the constant strain of handling such huge amounts of power, but she pushed on without hesitating, watching in morbid fascination as the distinct shiver of a heartbeat reverberated powerfully through the once-still body.
…
Jonathan Tillman, Level 23 Son of Flame
Tilly had no idea what death would feel like, but he hadn’t expected it to be so painful.
None of his senses were functioning, and even his ability to think was gone. He had been reduced to a singular experience of suffering.
Burning fingers reached deeply inside him, rooting out everything that didn't belong and he lost himself to the agony of being cleansed.
…
Thump.
Thump.
Thump
Thump
Thump
Tilly was yanked up from the dark, comforting embrace of unconsciousness and thrust back into the world of screaming sensations and harsh light.
He moaned in pain as nerves were brutally reconnected and the essential pathways of life restored through his shattered body. A relieved sigh sounded somewhere nearby,
“ -too stubborn to die…”
With the voice came the faint tinkling of music keeping time with the heavy thumps of his beating heart.
He blacked out moments after awakening, his mind completely overloaded by the cacophony of wild electrical signals flooding his recently silent brain.
…
Awareness flashed again briefly to the sensation of his feet dragging on the ground as the majority of his body lay on something pliable with two rigid poles compressing the sides of his shoulders.
His body was still a ghastly mess, slowly... miraculously clawing its way back from ruin. Moments later, mercifully, darkness crashed down on him again.
…
Tilly jolted back into consciousness as his body hit the ground.
“You are every bit… as heavy as you look,” Amelia declared above him between gasping breaths.
Tilly groaned in response, a million pieces of information hitting him at once even as he lay face down in the rocky dirt.
First and foremost the sensation of unspent Stat points hovered at the edge of his awareness, however, unlike other times when it had sat patiently like a paperweight in the back of his mind, the heaviness of the amount of stats that he had to allocate lodged itself in his psyche like a piece of Stonehenge.
His eyes flicked open to the notification bell at the top of his HUD and another revelation struck him like a slap to the face. His Debuff line only held a single entry... Resurrection Sickness.
Corruption’s Influence was gone.
It was gone.
The thought attempted to register again and again in his mind, but just would not land. Despite his entire body feeling like a giant bruise, a distinct feeling of wholeness pervaded his physical form. It wasn’t that he felt good. Actually, he felt like he had just been run over by a truck several times. Rather he felt singular. Like his body was wholly his again.
It's gone.
Somewhere around the seventh or eighth try, it finally started to sink in, and up from the depths of his being came an overwhelming response; Joy.
“It's gone.” He choked out through a parched throat.
Those words, uttered from exhausted lips elicited a gasp from above him, and he felt long graceful fingers reach under one shoulder and roll him over onto his back.
“You're awake,” exclaimed a beaming Amelia through continued gasps. She stood looking out over the bank of a small rocky stream near where they had arrived.
“Yeah… But I need a moment if you don’t mind.” Tilly whispered breathlessly, weighed down by an extraordinary exhaustion. She nodded, her skin around her eyes tight, betraying some lingering concern.
‘Kindle?’ He sent out.
No answer.
He tried to feel internally for the bond, and found it… It was strained, but present. Yet as he reached through it to find his partner, the connection seemed to disappear into a void.
Tilly considered lifting his jacket to see what had become of his side, but even thinking about the motion caused his bone-deep weariness to push him further into the ground. So instead he mentally pinged open the notification window and his vision was filled with a torrent of messages.