Chaos The Creator

Chapter Twenty Two

"Why do you get rid of her prank, but you left me in the vents for twenty four hours?" Clint asked.

"Sorry," I said. "The huntresses of Artemis rubbed off on me. I'll get over it soon."

There was a silence. All these silences are getting annoying.

There was a flash. Even with their limited knowledge of immortals, and some of their limited intellegences in general, the mortal members of the Avengers luckily had the sense to close their eyes.

The flash faded, and the eyes of the Avengers opened a moment after.

Harmony was standing there. She looked a bit different than she had when we were in my room, making the plans and informing Loki about everything. She still had the circulate, but it was a bit cracked in some places, and it was a bit bent. It wasn't a shiny silver like it used to be, but more of a dull gray. Her long, neatly braided black hair was now messy and uneven; in some places it still went down to her waist, and in others, it only reached her ear. Some of her hair was stuck to her face from sweat and blood.

She had two long cuts on her face, one horizontal one across her forehead, and the other a diagonal one on the lower part of her face, cutting across her lips. She had some other minor cuts on her face as well. Both cuts were still bleeding.

I gestured for her to come closer, and she did. I grabbed her left hand and pulled it closer, turning it so that the palm was facing up.

As I expected, there was a deep gash on the palm of her left hand, blood gushing from the wound. Around the wound, her hand was starting to turn black. It was moving through her hand like water climbs up a paper towel, and a little bit quicker.

I took out a knife, and looked at her. "You ready?"

Harmony hesitated for only a moment before stealing her nerves. "I am."

"This is going to hurt. A lot."

Harmony nodded, closing her eyes and bracing herself for pain.

"You remember all of the possible side effects?" I asked.

"Yes," she confirmed.

"And you are willing to take the risk?" I asked.

"...I already did," she replied after looking at me for a moment.

I nodded, smiling faintly, somehow finding that comment amusing.

I raised my knife and placed it so that it was hovering over her wound from a diagonal angle. I muttered a few words in a couple of different languages, not all from Earth. Her palm was now completely black, and the darkness was slowly starting to creep up her fingers and her wrist.

I kept chanting quietly, speaking faster. I touched the wound on her hand with my knife, and she flinched slightly.

The darkness had reached the tips of her fingers, and it was weaving its way up her arm.

I sped up more, tapping into my natural fast speaking New Yorker genes. I applied some pressure onto her wound, and Harmony closed her eyes. Her breathing hitched as she forced down a scream.

The darkness had reached her elbow. The darkness was moving unevenly, so some parts of it were above her elbow, and some were below, but most was at about her elbow.

I kept muttering, and I applied more pressure on the knife. Harmony bit her lip, and accidentally bit the cut that went through her lip. She yelped. I winced slightly, remembering that, but forced myself to keep going. She would learn to enjoy this kind of thing soon, anyway.

The darkness was crawling up her upper arm. What we were doing didn't seem to be working. It didn't seem to be slowing at all; if anything, its speed seemed to be increasing.

I tried to remember if this had happened when the first time around for me. I couldn't remember, but it had to have. Time doesn't just. . .change.

I pressed the knife into the wound. Harmony gasped painfully, as blood gushed out faster. A yell escaped. The blade of the knife started turning black, and the darkness slowed for a moment. Then, it sped up again. I cursed, then remembered that I was supposed to be chanting. I continued hurriedly.

The darkness disappeared underneath her sleeve.

I finished saying the words. The darkness appeared was moving fast now, weaving it's way up the left side of her neck.

I pressed the knife farther into the wound, and Harmony let out a short scream before she was able to force it down. She shut her eyes tightly. The knife had a dark red tint to it.

The darkness had reached her face. It spread out over the left half of her face, reaching her two major cuts. Darkness flooded from the cuts.

I hesitated only a split second before thrusting the knife fully into the wound.

Harmony's eyes shot wide open, and her back arched in pain. There was a long scream of agony.

And then it stopped.