The Next day...
Morning...
I slowly opened my eyes, yawning before getting up in a sitting position, grabbing my head lightly. A classic morning headache. If I remember correctly, last night after I returned to the 'campsite' I joined Odale and Frindel in the hot spring of a bit - Of course, in my snake form, not human form.
Why? Well, since my human form is nothing more other than me piloting a 'husk' I actually wasn't able to feel anything with my human body. Or at least.... Some oddly specific things I wasn't able to feel.
Anyways—
I yawned again, before looking around, only to find myself all alone, with no one else around.
"Uh... Wezrall? Odale? Frindel?"
I called out to them.
...Nothing. No answer, no movement - nothing - it was dead silence. I immediately jumped up onto my feet, before looking around in a panic.
They couldn't have left without me, because the carriage and stuff was still here and let's be real, they wouldn't dare to leave without me.
So... Where were they?
"Wezrall!? Frindel?! Odale?! Where are you?!"
I shouted, looking around a bit paranoid.
'Ancient One, perform a full scale analysis of the area.'
Understood Master.
In the moment that followed, a full scale scan of the surrounding area was performed using 'Overworld Detection', however I did not pick up any trace of them around me — The only thing I picked up was just remains of their traces.
I shed a sweat. Something was wrong, I could feel it. But I couldn't tell quite what was wrong, other than my friends being missing.
I decided to quickly collect up our stuff - placing the carriage and other things inside the shadows using my 'Shadow Manipulation' skill before looking around, finding the nearest remaining traces of their Magical Energy and slowly beginning to walk towards it.
However, right as I took 2 steps forward, a sudden strong headache hit me again.
'What the—?..'
Master, I have some bad news...
[Devourer] is slowly losing its effectiveness against {Corruption of the Abyss}.
What?!
Didn't we increase its intensity last night?! How is it losing effectiveness already?!...
I sighed heavily, before sort of forcing the headache back. I then quickly got back up. It seems like 'Devourer' wasn't going to cut it to keep the corruption at bay for any longer any more. I had to find a different way to keep it at bay or maybe even remove it.
Although... It was stated that it cannot be stopped once it had been activated even once right?
Well, I hope that's false...
After pulling myself together, I began the sprint towards the area I was going to head to - starting my search for my friends.
...
After reaching the first area where their Magical Energy had a presence, I began to march down a path of their Magical Energy, which led deeper inside the forest we had taken camp inside of.
While I was running down this path, it felt like there were a million pair of eyes watching me from all sides - right, left, front, behind, even above.
'A super unsettling feeling...'
I thought, shedding a sweat.
I chose to ignore the feeling of being watched for now and simply kept on running down the path, following the traces of the Magical Energy I was detecting.
Another thing worth mentioning, is that the atmosphere around had... Changed. And the forest I was in had also changed, from a fairly spaced out forest with what I had assumed to be birch trees, to now a more dense forest of a tree kind I didn't actually recognise.
The trees were... Dark brown? I think? Or was it more greyish tone their barks were in?
Honestly, it was hard to tell. However, skipping over the bark, the leaves of the trees were the real strange part as they were all sorts of different colours.
Some had purple, some had blue, some even had yellow - it was like a colourful paradise.
'This honestly looks like a forest where fairies and such would reside in every other fantasy story...'
I commented in my mind.
The overall look and I suppose feel of the forest gave off the vibe of a fairytale forest.
As I continued to follow the traces, the strong headache returned, causing me to fall to the ground, grabbing my head.
'Why now?!'
I shouted in my mind, as whispers began to fill my head.
I've detected an anomaly—
I'm immediately carrying out protocols to fight the corruption.
Ancient One, I appreciate the help and all-
BUT DO THE THING AND DON'T ANNOUNCE IT-
I slightly screamed in pain, as this dark aura began to build up around me. This corruption seriously fighting back like crazy right now...
It does not want to let go of me.
As the whispers got louder, I began to feel my conscience sort of fade - as it was replaced by an unparalleled thirst for blood and destruction.
'Jesus... Christ...'
I thought, struggling on the ground, as the aura around me got stronger and stronger, until-
Breakthrough has been made.
Huh..?
Before I could question it, a golden mist shot from my body before forming the same golden silhouette of a person that I had seen when I was about to die agaisnt Wezrall.
Aka the Ancient One manifesting himself outside of my mind.
Now bear with me for a moment Master,
This will hurt—
He stated, before lifting his arms above me.
Then, golden chains shot from his arms, before engulfing me, slowly sapping away at the corruption that I was leaking.
It was unbearably painful - it felt like the chains were burning my skin and not the skin of the human form, no.
The skin, of my real snake body.
I groaned and shrieked in pain for a bit, before eventually the headache disappeared and the leaking corruption disappeared as well. Ancient One breathed heavily, as the chains broke off and he returned to my body as a golden mist.
I breathed heavily myself, slowly picking myself up before noticing a strange veinlike pattern slowly having formed on my right arm.
'What did...'
I used my powers to temporarily subjugate the corruption.
It is NOT a permanent fix however and I recommend you find a way to get it under control or something, because it will continue to slowly expand across your body.
Then I can only guess this black, veinlike pattern that has now appeared on the arm of the human form is the corruption...
How fun.
Looks like I have two missions now-
Find the others AND find a way to get this corruption under control again.
After all that, I got back up onto my feet, before resuming my sprint - continuing to follow the leftover traces of Magical Energy again.
Meanwhile in the trees, a group of hidden beings, with glowing eyes, watched me run off down the path, seemingly observing me.
[?] "He is becoming a hazard. We must subjugate him at once."
[?] "No- we cannot do anything to him until the Elder allows it."
[?] "But the Elder will want to cure him, which will-"
[?] "I know what the Elder will want to do and what it will cost!... But we cannot simply take action because it is risky."
The hidden creatures talked among themselves, before the one seemingly leading them sighed.
[?] "For now, let's continue observing until the Elder orders the command of our next action."
The leading being finished, before all of them vanished in different coloured mists.
...
I continued following the traces for a while, before eventually reaching a dead end, where the traces stopped abruptly - seemingly vanishing into thin air.
"Come on! This can't be a deadend!"
I complained to myself, punching a nearby tree, accidentally smashing it into two bits, with the top bit falling onto the ground with a loud crash.
If running into a deadend wasn't bad enough, during the whole time of me running, the corruption was slowly taking greater effect, with the black vein pattern covering more of my arm, as well of turning the right shoulder of my human form into a complete void, with a fire like smoke emitting from it.
'I am running out of time!'
I thought, grtiting my teeth.
Then, I heard the sound of what sounded like a struggle somewhere nearby. Looking around, I didn't see anything, however with 'Overworld Detection' I was able to find the source of the noise.
It seemed like an individual or actually... A trio of individuals were fighting against... Many, many individuals that I couldn't decipher.
Their Magical Energy was... Non-existent. They weren't expelling any of it, so figuring out what they were was impossible.
But never mind that-
The trio of individuals I could decipher seemed to be two 'humanoid' creatures and a single monster like creature.
If I had to take bets, it could be just an adventurer party that had travelled into the woods, especially since their Magical Energy didn't feel familiar.
However, I was slightly hoping that those were Wezrall, Odale and Frindel who were currently engaged in a fight... But then again, why would they be struggling?
I was about to head towards the sound of the struggle, however before I could, the sound of growling appeared to my left side.
Looking over, I saw a Fenrir slowly exit the shadows, growling at me as it slowly approached.
A moment later, two more joining his side. Big dogs in the forest?
Unheard of. I simply gave them a cold glare, as the corruption slowly turned one of my human forms eyes purple.
"I don't have time for you weaklings!"
'Weaklings..? The hell am I saying?'
It felt as though I wasn't controlling what I was saying and my voice - it also sounded more distorted and deep.
Afterwards, I lifted up my left arm towards the Fenrir trio, before sending a wave of black flames towards them, incinerating them in an instant, as well as destroying a large chunk of the forest behind where they had come from.
Usually, I would have panicked about this, but this time - I strangely felt no remorse for this action. If anything, a strange sense of joy had entered me, watching the forest burn down and the Fenrirs get practically erased in an instant.
Afterwards, I began to limp over to the sound of the struggle, holding my stomach with my left arm, as the corruption slowly took over more and more of my body.
I managed to get closer to the sound of the struggle, however, before I managed to get a glimpse of what the struggle was about, a ridiculously strong headache hit me, causing great pain.
Grabbing it with both of my arms, I groaned and shouted in pain, backing away from the place of the struggle.
Corruption has taken full effect-
Proceeding with protocols to battle—
Ancient Ones voice faded.
Actually.... It was cut short. The only thought that went through my mind when I heard him talk was:
'Oh my god, stop TALKING!'
I shouted in pain, before looking up, my eyes glowing fully purple as a massive pillar of black flames was shot up into the air from the spot I stood.
In that moment, I lost my conscience over the situation - it felt like I had instantly fallen into a deep slumber.
I didn't feel anything, hear anything, sense anything or even see anything. I had completely lost all control over my own body.
I don't know how or why... But it wasn't pleasant.
'...Why me...'
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Next Chapter:
[World History #2] -
"The Corruption & The Light."
+
92. -
"Forest of Spirits Pt.2"