The Empty Mirror
Chapter 58: Whip of Vitality
The hue of his skin is of a sickly, pale pink, contrasting with the hair that covers his body entirely, a black, undulating mane resembling large feathers. However, his chest presents an exception, devoid of hair on the pectorals and abdomen, revealing a smooth, naked surface. His eyes, pearlescent and lifeless, suggest blindness that forces him to rely on scent and echolocation, skills he hones with his large, hairy ears, whose pale and delicate membranes help him perceive the world around him.
Yet, the most enigmatic aspect of that creature was a pair of wings, membranous and formed by a thin, elastic skin that extended between the fingers of its upper limbs and its body. This membrane, akin to human hand skin but much thinner and more elastic, granted him the ability to glide, although his wings were short and wide, of a deep, enigmatic black like the darkest night. However, they seemed defective and deformed, like everything inhabiting the Hanging Gardens, struggling to glide rather than flying with grace and skill.
As I hid among the foliage, fearing discovery by the creature lurking in the garden, I tightly grasped the "Two of Wands" staff, my heart pounding and nervous sweat beading on my forehead. Despite the silence surrounding me, the creature, hatched from a putrid shell, sensed me. With a sharp, guttural cry, it lunged towards me, gliding with all its might to rend me in a grotesque death, its wingspan reaching at least 2.5 meters. Its mouth was lined with long, sharp, broken teeth, and in its saliva, I could see my own reflection, a grim omen of the impending doom looming over me.
Yet, the thought of departing so easily did not dwell in my mind, or rather, "Hunger on Trial" would not allow its bearer to succumb so soon. Thus, on the brink of oblivion, while pondering how to fend off the assault, with my reasoning slower than the monster's onslaught, I experienced a sudden tug on my neck, so vehement that it felt as if my cervical vertebrae were about to dislocate. Then, the sharp and unsettling sounds of hungry teeth resonated, on the verge of devouring, indeed, the immediate onslaught of "Bite". However, the attack did not have the desired effect, as it was not directed by me, but by the passive force of "Hunger on Trial", the one that watches over its bearer, effective, although now the curse loomed with unyielding firmness. Still, in my predicament, the onslaught proved effective, as the creature, being so close, succumbed to the force of the bite.
The ruthless "Bite" tore and dismembered one of the creature's limbs in mid-air as it lunged towards my position. In a choked, hoarse lament, the creature writhed in convulsions on the barren grass. I, of course, harboured not the slightest intention of granting it a chance to regain composure after the attack. However, instead of resigning itself and accepting its fate, the creature began to crawl painfully with its hands and the sole remaining leg, slowly rising as its mutilated limb lay in a pool of blood like tar. Faced with such a heart-wrenching scene, I felt compelled to act.
I had considered once more resorting to "Hunger on Trial" to deliver the final blow and end its suffering once and for all. But this option proved unfeasible, for, as expected, I had already used the choker previously, unleashing the power of the curse in a moment of desperation. Now, with the passive bite activated, the curse accompanying the choker became even more sinister and menacing. Even in the midst of this horrifying trance, I felt my insides twisting with insatiable hunger. Undoubtedly, resorting once more to the power of the choker would entail a fate both dire and indescribable. However, amid my deliberations, which lasted but a moment, like a blink…
The horrendous creature spread its membranous wings in a sinister flutter, poised to consummate my execution. With a heart pounding with fear, I turned my back and ran. However, the outcome was tragic and surprising, for despite its mutilated limb, its charge proved fatal for me. It lunged with wings outstretched and landed close to my back, triggering a surge of panic and adrenaline within me. I tightly gripped the knife in my hands and attempted to wield the blade to strike the aberrant monster. However, as I tried to pierce the skin of its belly, I felt my wrist give way instantly, almost causing me to drop the weapon.
The creature's skin was rough and rigid, preventing the blade from penetrating beyond a slight scratch. Meanwhile, the force's impact on my hand twisted my wrist, plunging me into sharp pain. The beast, with graceful deliberation, swiftly rose, its slightly short wings extending its claws towards me with the intention of tearing my skin apart. Its jaws threatened to devour me, but fortunately, we were now sufficiently separated for its claws not to reach me. The mere idea of its overwhelming bulk was enough to grasp the danger it posed; the simple fact that its body would bear down on mine was enough to seal my fate, such was the disparity between us.
I staggered back, aware that this time I could not escape. I had to end this here and now, while the beast lay wounded. With determination and longing, I called upon the "Two of Wands", fervently wishing it would defend me with a relentless attack against the creature. Feeling my spirit merge with the staff, I watched as the beast approached, extending its long claws. Channeling the energy of the staff, I quickly meditated and, with a fluid movement, spun the staff over my head, tracing an arc in the ether as if guided by mysterious hands. A supernatural sensation washed over me as the staff moved through the air, forming a spiral of pale green and golden light that snaked and flowed like a magical touch.
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At the top of the staff, the amputated simian paw seemed to bleed at the edges of the fingertips and in the red circle of the palm, forming an artistic gesture implying a range of emotions, from sadness to happiness. This gesture, resembling a claw or a crab's mouth, held a wealth of meanings, like an archery lesson. The gesture involved the thumb bending inward and positioning against the base of the index finger, while the other three fingers remained extended and separated. The hand took on a slight curvature, shaping a form reminiscent of a beak or a hook. The paw seemed to want to hold a necklace of pearls or flowers, to hold a disc, but everything was subject to the interpretation of the uninitiated. These intertwined and simultaneous emotions manifested in a single hand movement, revealing the complexity of the human soul.
With a sudden snap of the staff, the spiral of light materialised into a whip of magical energy, extending forward with a resonant hum. The whip, gleaming and radiant, sliced through the air with a sharp hiss as it lunged towards the target enemy with impeccable precision. Upon impact, the whip engulfed the target in a flash of magical energy, inflicting physical damage and, simultaneously, imbuing a sense of stagnation in its growth and regeneration. The creature, stiff and defenceless, seemed to experience its vitality gradually fading away, weakening under the influence of the power of involution.
Its body appeared marked by a genuine leather whip near the belly, its strength fading into the ether. Blood from its mutilated paw flowed incessantly, where wounds refused to heal, causing an unstoppable hemorrhage. The creature, as if deprived of all life, lay pale and still, as if death itself had claimed it. It was such a sudden moment that I could scarcely believe what my eyes witnessed: a single, precise whip strike, swift and subtle, stripping it of all vitality and condemning it to a state of irreversible decay. Finally, the whip faded into the air, leaving behind a trail of magical energy dissipating slowly as I prepared for my next move.
Amidst wails of horror and in the midst of an insatiable frenzy, I found myself compelled to approach the corpse, lying inert without a doubt. Despite the vertigo threatening to make me faint, I succumbed to desperate impulse and dire necessity, and began to devour the monster's body. I once again drew my knife and, upon the wound inflicted by the magical whip near its belly, prepared to open the creature's skin and flesh. After several attempts and finally cutting through the creature's rough and rigid skin, I watched as blood as black as tar gushed from its body in a copious hemorrhage, mixed with clots.
With vomit rising in my throat, I proceeded to eviscerate the creature, cutting with trembling hands and the knife, delving into its entrails and devouring them. My hands quickly stained red, my mouth and dress smeared with blood. I chewed and swallowed the flesh with disgust, savouring its unpleasant texture, as if I were eating pieces of damp leather. It was so rough and tough that it could barely be chewed, and my human teeth seemed to reject it, but I had no other option. The curse of "Hunger on Trial" caused an insatiable hunger in me as a side effect of its blessings. I devoured the corpse with revulsion until my appetite was sated, thus avoiding the fate of the choker. I drank its blood and ate its flesh, but instead of quenching my thirst, it left a bitter, metallic aftertaste in my mouth and throat. I could not quench my thirst; I was in a state of perpetual thirst and decay.
Amid bites of this extravagant fare, I christened the staff's ability as the "Whip of Vitality". At the same time, I confirmed the influence of the "Two of Wands" to purify the degeneration of the Hanging Gardens, whose corruption infects the plants and creatures that thrive within it. Who knows what horrors this degeneration would cause in the human body, but nothing pleasant, perhaps bodily mutations and the purest physical horror. Therefore, I was deeply grateful to the "Two of Wands" for exorcising that corruption from my being as I fed on the creatures of the Hanging Gardens.
However, every blessing comes with its curse, and mine were not long in coming. An unstoppable force distorted the shape and structure of my body. I looked at my hands, with gangrene spreading between my nails, while the monkey paw of the staff manifested its curse upon me. My hand turned into an oversized limb, my bones seemed to expand and rearrange themselves into a grotesque bone mutilation. The bones elongated and the phalanges deformed, taking on a closer appearance to bony flesh and cartilage. The skin of my hand became like an old leather glove, barely covering the bones twisting beneath. The pain was unbearable, gut-wrenching; I began to cry and scream with all my might, until I was hoarse and writhing in pain on the ground.
My tears fell upon the Hanging Gardens as I felt my eye sockets sinking into my skull. The pain was so monstrous and aberrant that it seemed to try to hinder my interaction with the outside world. Amidst the most grotesque agony I had ever experienced, supposedly, I fell unconscious.
Upon coming to, I was unaware of how much time had passed in the abyss. The first thing I did was to check the condition of my hand, and to my surprise, it seemed to be unscathed. The bones, skin, and flesh were intact. I moved it cautiously and only experienced slight discomfort, barely a tingling sensation, as if I had suffered a minor injury. I almost believed I was delirious, but what convinced me of my sanity was the presence of calluses on my hands, areas of thickened and hardened skin that had cracked, perhaps as a result of interaction with the staff. They were rough and somewhat painful due to the cracks, and they seemed to have a yellowish tint resembling pus, although they posed no real danger.
I woke with my heart racing in my chest, drenched in sweat all over my body. I doubted whether I had truly lost consciousness, for it felt as if I had been plunged into a double deep sleep, within a nightmare. Perhaps the agonising pain had plunged me into a state of rigid madness on the ground, unable to move. However, for some reason, whether due to the pain or some supernatural force, my memories were clouded, as if my mind were trying to protect my sanity. Nevertheless, to my dismay, all the deformity in my bones was an undeniable reality, nothing but a cruel curse imposed by the "Two of Wands".