I know that deep inside, somewhere, a strong power flows through my veins. I felt it, once, but only for a moment. It was when we fought that beast in the forest, but how many decades ago was that…
----------------------------------------
Dragged footsteps echoed in an empty space. Neither light nor dark existed, or sound or sight. Emptiness and nothingness prevailed. Yet, somehow, in that space, walked a young man. His presence alone created what there was not.
The sound of his ragged breathing and racing heart echoed against nothing, and the faint light exuded by his long silver hair and crimson eyes illuminated the little bits of emptiness near him. He walked, not on air or ground, but simply did, and he advanced, although his foggy pupils showed that the destination was unclear.
Despite that, his determined existence created images of people. There was a boy, around the same age as the one walking- and two people that he was a spitting image of. Wide, happy smiles creased their lips as the boy within the image cast a simple fireball. It wasn’t strong, nor was it a show, just a fireball.
Similar images played out all around him, with the little boy advancing in age, and his appearance, alongside his parent, chanting as he reached his teen years. They still looked related, but nothing like before, and soon they were apart.
The parents grew into old age, while the boy went on adventures, made friends, got a wife and grandchildren…
Meanwhile, the boy within the empty walked, unbothered and unfazed by the images unfolding before him.
Until…
A large, scale-covered eye appeared. The thing dwarfed the boy, and its imposing presence and aura gave the boy some clarity.
“You’re going to die.” It said, its ancient-sounding voice echoing throughout the nothingness.
The boy looked up, some fog clearing from his pupils. “Who… are you?”
“I am Lazharus, God of the Lazhar race. Your God, ‘Kai’”
Its revelation fully awoke the boy, his crimson eyes burning with life as he stared in shock at the large eye before him.
“You’re going to die.” It repeated.
“I know,” Kai said, his racing heart calming down, staring at the large eyeball with disgust, yet a hint of reverence. “Didn’t I tell you that you can’t be here?”
“I don’t think that question is as important as you make it to be. Especially not now.”
Kai’s mouth opened halfway, but quickly shut back down as he pondered over the matter. “What can I do?” His voice broke as he asked.
“Accept me. I will give you power.”
“You will take my body.”
“I will do no such thing… you’re not a suitable vessel.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“Accept me and you will understand.”
Kai’s head tilted upwards, glaring at the giant, unblinking and emotionless eyeball. “You’re not to be trusted, especially not after… this.”
Upon hearing Kai’s words, the giant eyelids closed slightly as an amused laughter ran in his ears like a church’s bell. It took a minute for it to calm down, and, after it did, a powerful, scorching fire covered its surface. “I saved you two times, kid.” It said, becoming small enough for Kai to look down on. It floated and blinked strangely as it continued.
“Why do you think you were able to transform against Haniard?” It circled Kai as it spoke, forcing the boy to turn around. “Or when your body was being turned upside down by so much energy that it should have exploded? Do you think you have the power to will over my bloodline?” Its harsh words cut deep, as in both of these times his death was more than assured. “You owe me your life, twice over now.”
A pair of tendril-like veins bulged out, grabbing Kai’s limbs and slithering under his skin. “Accept me once more, take my power like you never could before…” Its enticing voice sounded like a pleasant tune to Kai’s ears, even as he did his best to resist. “Take enough power to crush that woman, enough power to kill her in body and spirit… enough power to take control over your life.”
As it spoke, an image of the woman strangling him, from his point of view, flashed into his mind, her sadistic smile leaving no more room for mercy. “Tik… tok…”
Kai’s expression turned to one of horror as, within the image, the woman’s hand tightened around his neck until his futile struggles fell limp. His head, covered in blood and vomit, tilted forward. Onyx’s barks, filled with anxiety and fear, landed on deaf ears. Despite his pleadings, the woman lifted Kai’s almost lifeless body up, and her hand completely closed around his neck.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
The sound of crushing bones echoed into Kai’s ears, filling his helpless expression with terror. He watched with an empty feeling as his own body fell lifeless to the ground, covered in blood, vomit, and bits of bones, and then the woman punched out at Onyx.
“NO!” However, that is when the image stopped, and, by that point, the tendrils from the eye covered and slithered through Kai’s body like a parasite. Despite that, he didn’t care, as his reddened eyes glared at the eye with an indiscernible hatred.
“Well?” It asked, not hiding his slyness. “Do you want the power to get revenge? Do you want the power to survive?”
Kai grit his teeth, his body shaking as he tries to move. But he couldn’t, not as long as the tendrils invaded his body like they did. The hatred within him grew even stronger, and fiercer, and his body, real or not, burned with an intense desire to destroy everything that stood before him.
The people he met, the people he cared about, the people who loved him. Their faces, names, and the moments he spent with them, all flooded his mind like a broken dam. They all lined up, images of them crying upon hearing news of his death attacking his consciousness, thinning out his will and slowly opening it up for others to consume.
Last of them was Onyx, whose mangled body and lifeless eyes sent a shiver down Kai’s body, and filled his stomach with intense disgust, making him want to throw up. Anger, fury, hatred, love… a cacophony of emotions bombarded his mind like an uncaring monster. The immense pain that caused him made him want to give up, to let go, to allow his body to flow with an energy so powerful he’d lose himself. And he was about to, let it all go, he closed his eyes to let this so-called God borrow his body, to get them out of that situation alive.
However, just as he was about to agree with the eye, with Lazharus, at that moment, a familiarly unfamiliar voice reached out to him from beyond whatever space he was currently in.
Bwotwer, Fight!
Those two words brought his mind from the depths of pain, and his eyes snapped open. Forcing his right hand to move, he, under the surprised gaze of the eye, pulled out and ripped the tendrils from his limbs, freeing himself of the parasites.
“Impossible!” Lazarus cried out in genuine shock and watched Kai approach him with a resentful glare.
“It doesn’t matter what you planned on doing,” He said slowly, pulling his hand into a fist as he ran. “I’ll do my own thing.” And he struck at the eye before it could react, disintegrating it into a fine powder that swiftly disappeared. It left behind a red crystal, which Kai grabbed and crushed inside his fist.
The particles from it shot toward Kai, feeding him and nourishing his body.
…
In the real world, Onyx watched with furious anger as the woman lifted Kai up, his fingers twitching as he tried to fight back against her. However, the Obborik sensed the fleeting life of his companion, and he barked angrily, shooting as many wind spells as he could. However, no matter what he did, the woman simply waved her free hand and broke apart his attacks.
The growing despair within his eyes made him circle around a few times, sending out spells from any and all directions. He panted, his tongue hanging out as saliva dripped down on the ground, yet, no matter how hard he tried, Kai’s life remained within that woman’s hands.
“Woof, woof, arf! GRRRRR!” Onyx cried out desperately toward Kai and was about to launch himself at Inquisitor. However, before he did, he saw Kai’s hand twitched, and he cried out one last time, urging him to fight.
At that moment, Kai’s arm, which barely moved, instantly rose and grabbed the woman’s arm, the one that strangled him. Her sadistic expression instantly changed to one of horror as she felt the boy’s aura grow in strength, and saw his appearance change before her very eyes.
His disheveled hair grew out slightly, now reaching to his hips, and his clothes began to rip apart as his limbs and body increased in size. White scales, as clean as his hair and as shiny as his blade, quickly spread around his body. Starting with the neck, where the woman strangled him, moving down to his chest, arms, and legs. They didn’t cover him entirely, only about fifty percent of his body turned to scale, while the rest remained bare.
His nails turned into razor-sharp claws, with his toes developing some sort of webbing in between.
The hand that held the Inquisitor’s arm tightened around it, much like hers did around his throat mere moments ago, and an unexpected groan of pain escaped her body. She let go of Kai, who landed on their feet, then lowered himself and kicked at her legs. Whilst she was falling, he caught her by the damaged arm, and, with a sadistic, violent smile, he gripped the handle of his sword. Twisting it, he pulled out, then kicked the body.
She didn’t have any strength or time to resist, as all of that happened in the time it takes for a spark to fly off a piece of flint. Within mere moments of Kai waking up, she found herself flung backward, a fountain of blood out of the place where her arm used to be.
Kai held the bloody piece of meat in his hand, the very arm that almost killed him, dripping with fresh, poisonous blood. A small fire appeared between his fingers, and it quickly became a flaming fireball that quickly engulfed the arm, burning it to ashes within seconds.
Then he wiped his sword clean of the very same blood that almost killed him and slowly walked toward the woman’s listless body. She looked at him with a terrified expression, as if something within her blood told her to bow to the boy in front.
“You chased me… all this way.” He said with a coarse, deep voice filled with resentment. “A boy that could do nothing to defend himself, that could only run. Chased me with such malice and even killed me… killed Onyx…” These words seemed to be his, and not at the same time. The crimson within his eye shone with a bright hue as he let out reptile-shaped indents on the ground.
“Fought me, tried to kill me…” He walked closer and closer, soon being mere inches away from her. “You should also be prepared to die, in that case, right?”
Kai asked, lifting his sword above his head, the sadistic insanity on his face replaced by an eerie deadpan expression. The woman’s terrified pupils trembled, and she tried without use to lift her remaining arm up and strike at Kai, whose figure now loomed over her. However, she couldn’t, no matter how much she tried, it seemed that mana stopped responding to her, only serving Kai and Kai alone.
“Goodbye…”
Brwer!
However, at that moment, right before he swung, Onyx’s voice rang in his head, and the light within his eyes receded. In that same moment, his claws returned to his fingers, and the scales covering his body disappeared back into his skin. He shook his head, and quickly put the sword away, then dashed toward Onyx.
What was that?! Was it… me? He asked inwardly, however, he didn’t have any time to process what happened, as he feared the woman would get back up and chase them. Locking eyes with Onyx, he nodded and jumped on his back. Sounds of anger and destruction echo behind them, whoever they didn’t dare look back.