Syren stared at all of the monsters with so much hate coming out of his body. His eyes slowly turned into that of a snake's. Tyra stood up with her blade in her hand.

"Good. I'll try to protect you, but you'll have to make sure you can protect yourself," Syren said, "Do you understand?"

"I understand," Tyra replied as she readied to continue the fight.

He didn't particularly think she understand his meaning. He was afraid that he might hurt her, but he couldn't think about that. He focused his attention to all of the many-eyed beasts in the forest. Syren's veins began popping out of his face. His black tome began flipping pages at random.

He roared once more.

"Kill them. Kill them," a voice said to him as if somebody was speaking right in his ears. He was certain it was Whisper's voice.

His eyes remained human, but it was hard to maintain. All he could see were red blurs. Red blurs that needed to be squashed.

It didn't take long for one creature to charge in. It held a small axe and was about to strike Syren's chest. It went right into his flesh. But instead of feeling any pain, he immediately cut it down with his shadow blade. The axe burned up into smoke. More creatures came at them.

Tyra readied to defend herself, but Syren knew that she was too wounded to continue the fight even if she can stand.

Without even looking at the pages in the black tome, he could see what was written. When he saw a spell that he liked, he quickly chanted. His speech was so quick that it felt alien. Tendrils grew from underneath the ground surrounding the two of them. The tendrils tore apart the many-eyed beasts with ease. When one of the big creatures was coming, he chanted another spell - still indiscernable. The spells he casted were a page long of chants, but he spoke them swiftly and with ease. He was stronger and faster than ever before. His shadow blade began to grow from nothing. With one swing of his blade, he cut down a whole horde of monsters. The shadow blade returned back to normal size, but his tendrils were taking care of most of the enemies.

Tyra was even more surprised. He was even stronger than he was when he fought that worm. Or perhaps that worm was just stronger than the two of them had realized.

He chanted another spell. He felt like he was in control, but he had no idea what he was doing. The black tome began to float in front of him.

The black choker around Syren's neck began to quake and darken. A dark mist began to protrude from it. He didn't know what it was doing, but the black tome began to float in the air. One arm held the shadow blade. The other began to unravel itself. The tendrils began to tear apart to reveal worms similar to Gula.

The black choker vibrated further. The arm that once held the black tome bubbled. Large worms popped out from under the skin. They wriggled along his arm. He pointed them towards the hordes of many-eyed beasts and they jumped at them still connected to his arm. They consumed many of them leaving nothing no waste behind.

Syren's mind started to become blank. All he saw were the red blurs. Just targets to be killed. He began to smile as boiling blood rushed throughout his body. It hurt, but he didn't care. He slaughtered the creatures. And he enjoyed it. But it didn't feel right. Something was itching inside of his head. It was as if his actions weren't his own. Nonetheless, he ignored his feelings and continued to break apart the horde of monsters until they retreated. And even as they ran away, he gave chase to one of them and crushed its head. The others scurried away. It was over.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The black choker stopped vibrating. The worms that replaced the tendrils erased themselves from existence.

Syren closed his black tome. His blade reverted back to his own shadow.

Tyra fell to one knee and examined the arrow wound. She looked over to Syren who stood there silently.

"Great work, Syren," Tyra called out with a smile. This time she was pleasantly surprised. She didn't see him as a monster this time. She saw him as her savior. But she should have trusted her previous instinct.

Syren turned his head and his eyes were completely serpentine. It was over, but he didn't know that. He slowly approached one more red blur fully intending to crush it with his bare hands.

"Wait, Syren! It's me," Tyra said as she got herself up ready to defend herself.

The noise didn't reach him, but as Tyra took steps back, she continued to call out. She tried to reach out to him to take control of himself. The noise echoed in his head. His eyes slowly turned back into human. He looked at Tyra who he saw as grateful to being scared.

"Kill her. Let me kill her. We don't need anybody else," the voice said to Syren. His eyes were slowly turning back into those of a snake.

"No. No. Get out," Syren begged aloud as he tried to control himself. His snake-like eyes reverted back to normal. Without him even noticing, his hand was already reaching towards Tyra's neck. Her blade was up and ready to pierce through my head.

"Stop it! Stop it!," Syren shouted to Whisper. It felt like he was vomiting out his own stomach, but Syren believed that Whisper wasn't the one in control. It was his body. He could remove him at any time. And so he did. Whisper fell out of Syren's body and he quickly transformed back to normal. There was so much blood coming out of him. He felt as if he was going to throw up.

Syren apologized, "I'm sorry, Tyra. I almost lost control there."

She made a fake smile. "That's fine," she said as she sheathed her blade. She fell to her knees and prepared to fix her wound with bandages. She thought that she should have known better than to trust a monster. In the end, they were all just violent beasts that didn't care for anything but crushing those underneath them.

"Hold on," Syren said as he turned the pages of his black tome. His whole body felt like it was about to fall apart, but he looked for something that would help Tyra. He found a spell and chanted with the intent of healing Tyra:

"Life flows from the fall

Sing a song that heals one

Shine a light towards one call

Sing a song that heals one

Sing a song that heals the bone of all"

And with that, Tyra's wounds began to stitch itself together. It was still sore, but the wound was gone. Eventually, the stitches faded and left only a scar. Tyra touched it and felt no pain. She was completely bewildered. In one moment, she thought that this boy was a monster. The next moment, he came to her rescue. And the next, he was a monster once more. And finally, it came right back to just a regular boy who just wants to help.

"Why did you heal me first?" Tyra asked, "You're in far worse shape."

Syren coughed. He replied slowly, "I... I don't know. I just wanted to help. Somehow, I know how it feels to be helpless. I just don't want others to feel that way. And, in all honesty, I don't feel like I deserve to be saved after what I did - what I tried to do."

She just didn't know what to think, but she truly did believe that Syren wanted to help. She really believed that he was sorry for everything. She smiled brightly, and this time it was completely genuine.

Syren fell to the side of a tree as blood spurted out of every hole in his body. Tyra held his body. He wasn't dying, but it was very difficult for him to read that spell once more. And so Tyra took the black tome from his grip. For a second, he gripped it real tightly, but after seeing that it was Tyra's hand, he let go. She chanted the same spell. It healed him leaving behind so many scars.

Tyra lifted Syren up. He looked at Whisper furiously.

"You really should kill her. You'll be much happier if you let her die now rather than later," Whisper said without a care.

Syren ignored him completely and calmed himself.

"Let's go. Take us to where the demon is," Syren commanded.

"Fine. Let's go," Whisper said as he began walking away.

Syren walked forward and Tyra followed. The three of them prepared themselves for the next battle. But this time, Syren vowed never to allow Whisper to enter his body again. He could only believe that Whisper was controlling his actions near the end. He had to forcefully push him out even harder this time. He was also unaware how the black choker on his neck could have spawned those worms. He was just becoming uncertain, but even if Whisper wasn't in control, Syren couldn't believe that he - himself - was. He couldn't risk losing his mind like that and hurting innocents. He walked forward alongside Tyra hoping that he wouldn't need to.