Chains of Corruption

Vestix charges again and you attempt to dodge but he catches you. Vestix lifts you into the air with one hand and slams you into a pillar hard. You leave a big fracture in the stone column as Vestix lifts you again and throws you across the room. You hit the altar and tumble into the wall, coughing up a small amount of blood as you come to a rest. Shit, what now? How are you supposed to beat this thing? You struggle to your feet and Vestix begins walking toward you.

Breathing heavily, you weigh your options. Even with your sword, you don't stand much of a chance, but you know with his speed, escape is impossible. If fire didn't work, then why not try electricity? You raise your hand and a massive blast of purple electricity crashes into Vestix, lighting up the dark interior.

He slowly continues moving forward, his skin smoking from the intense heat. It's slowing him down but that's all. It's still not enough. You're using up a lot of energy for this barrage but you don't know what else to do. You try to back away but Vestix is approaching faster than you can retreat. He lashes out and his claws cut deep into your left arm. You stagger backwards and Vestix closes in quickly, landing another hit which sends you flying into the pews. You are dizzy but you manage to stand just as Vestix jumps and lands next to you, crushing the wooden bench beneath him.

You try to use magic, but the demon grabs you by your helmet and lifts you into the air. You feel like your neck is going to break as you struggle, but you manage to slip out of the helmet and fall down. Vestix crushes your helmet before letting it fall onto the floor. You get back to your knees and raise your hand slowly. The demon grabs you by the neck and lifts you up again, but you quickly jam your thumb into his eye. Your thumb thrashes around in the demon's skull, thoroughly destroying his eye. Vestix roars and throws you across the room again, although with less force this time.

You land in the middle of the room and you look over and see your sword lying a few feet away. Vestix thrashes around violently until he sees you, and then charges in like a wild animal. You grab your sword and swing hard as you turn around and bury your blade into the demon's arm. You quickly withdraw your sword and Vestix jumps back, putting distance between you. He snarls angrily at you and you know this will be the last clash. You don't have much energy left after being knocked around so much, since you've been trying to heal your wounds little by little between thrashings.

You put the remaining energy in your left hand and form a sphere of ice. Vestix howls and rushes toward you. You run towards the demon and throw your sword as hard as you can. It just barely misses him, embedding itself into the stone floor tiles, as he dodges to the side, but that's exactly what you wanted him to do. As Vestix turns and tries to stop his momentum, you leap between him and your sword. With one motion, you grab the demon, smashing your ice magic into his face with one hand while the other grabs your sword. The demon is quickly entombed in a crystal clear prison of ice and you raise your sword with both hands and strike down with all your might. The ice shatters as well as the demon and you slump back against the wall.

"Shit." You say to yourself, breathing heavily, "That was close, and that was only one."

You look around again now that it's safe and notice it's darker than it should be. Hanging around here isn't a good idea, Iliya or some other demon might come back and you don't want to be caught off guard. You make your way to the old wooden doors and push them open. It is daytime still, but high up, a thick black smoke covers the air, blocking out the sun. Nothing in the area is familiar, the cathedral stands alone in a barren wasteland. Even the waves crashing against the shore behind the cathedral look dingy and grayish.

"How the hell did I get here, and where are Priscilla and the others?" You think aloud as you begin walking.

There are monsters here but not like the others you've seen. These ones are bestial and evil looking, more like the ones from movies back home. You make your way a good distance into the wasteland, moving from cover to cover, trying to avoid drawing attention to yourself. You can barely make out the cathedral in the distance now, but nothing else. You don't know which way to go and as you are peeking around a corner, a monster sees you and rushes in.

It moves like a wolf, and you wait until it pounces into the air before slicing it from cheek to tail. Luckily, it seems the other monsters didn't hear the commotion and you move on. After what seems like hours, you sit down against a rock. It's getting dark now and with the smoke, the moonlight can't reach the ground, making it very hard to see. You are tired, especially after that fight, but there's no way you can sleep in this place. You take a few more minutes to rest and then keep moving through the darkness. Eventually, you come to a beach, but there is only sand around the water's edge. The rest of the land looks the same as where you came from, like it has dried up and might crumble at any time.

Damn, if this beach connects back to the cathedral, that means this is probably an island, and the only island you've heard of is the one inhabited by demons. Iliya probably brought you here thinking even if you beat Vestix, you would die trying to escape. It's not like you can swim with all this armor on, and you're not stupid enough to take it off and try. You decide to follow the beach and after a while, things finally begin to brighten up.

"Guess it's morning already." You mutter as you continue on.

Up ahead, you see a cluster of large rocks and climb up for a better view. The smoke overhead billows out from a single point, and in the distance, you can barely make out what looks like a smoke stack. That must be the factory. You wonder what the demons are doing with a facility like that and then you notice something. Between the factory and the beach there appears to be a massive crater. It must be from the meteor. You decide to check out the crater and climb down from the rocks.

After making your way to the crater and climbing up the side, you gaze down and see the crater is very deep and at the bottom, there is a huge crack in the ground. You are a bit disappointed nothing is here but as you turn to leave, you catch a glimpse of a small white light coming from deep inside the crevasse. It disappears just as you look for it, but you are sure you saw it, so you hop over the edge and slide down into the crater. You come to a stop just before the edge and peer into the abyss. Deep inside the darkness, you can see a woman bound in chains. After focusing, you can see a bit better in the darkness and notice that there appears to be some kind of stone structure around the woman.

You see a way down and proceed carefully. At the bottom, you can see the woman more clearly now and even in the darkness, her golden hair seems to shine. The woman is blindfolded and gagged, her arms and legs outstretched by heavy chains. It looks like she was wearing an elegant white dress with flowers at the hip, but it is now ripped and barely hangs off her wrists, exposing her completely.

On a nearby table, there are rusty tools with dried blood on them next to a few knives. What the hell were the demons doing to this woman? You don't see any injuries on her but you doubt the demons brought her here just to confine her. Her hair is different and her breasts are much larger. This isn't Gwen, but then, who is it? You remove the woman's gag and as you take off the blindfold, your eyes meet hers.

Suddenly, you hear Mara's voice in your head saying, "My child, you have come at last."

This is Mara!? This is where she's been all this time?

"Come closer, there is not much time." Mara says and you come face to face with the goddess. "There is no time to explain, you must kiss me, now hurry!" Mara commands.

You are very confused by this, but if she is telling you to do it, maybe you should? You lean in a bit and press your lips against Mara's. Immediately, she thrusts her tongue into your mouth and begins flailing it around wildly. You back away and as Mara pleads you to come back, you notice there is something on the back of her head. You circle around and are not prepared for what you see. Some kind of tube is attached to the base of Mara's skull and something black is being injected into her. It's not a liquid, more like a sludge, maybe this is the black slime that initially covered the island.

The demons must be trying to corrupt Mara, that's the only explanation you can come up with. You decide to try to stop this somehow. The heavy chains are thick and would be very difficult to break, but the tube seems almost like hard plastic. From what you've heard you definitely don't want that stuff touching you or spilling onto the ground. The tube comes down from the ceiling and you can't see a way to stop the flow of slime from here.

As you try to think, Mara's voice enters your mind again, "Champion, I am losing my power, I fear I do not have long in this condition. The corruption devours more of my light everyday. You must leave this place before they find you."

"I'm going to get you out of here, I can't just run and leave you like this." You say still trying to find a way to free her.

"Iliya approaches, she cannot find you here, you are not ready." Mara's voice echoes in your head.

Damn! You look around and doubt hiding in the darkness would be much help against a demon, but the only way out is back up the crater, where you would be in the open and surely get caught.

You look back to Mara, whose blue eyes are glowing as she says, "I can send you back to the mainland, but in my weakened state, I do not know where you will end up." Mara says wearily.

"Anywhere is better than here, and I promise, I will come back for you." You say, determined to put an end to Iliya's madness.

Mara smiles and a bright white light envelops you. You can't see anything but you feel like you are moving very fast and then the white light disappears, leaving you mid air above a small farmhouse. You fall down, hit the roof and roll off onto the ground, crashing into a small stack of wooden crates.

As you lay there in pain, a girl comes out of the house and says, "Gods what happened! Hey, I know you, you were with Priscilla."

You open your eyes and see Selene, the puppy girl waitress standing over you. "You're that waitress, then, I'm in Cyldell right now?" You ask the girl, who is just as confused as you.

"Um, yeah this is my house, I live right outside Cyldell. I thought you left with Priscilla a while back, where is she?" Selene asks in confusion.

You rub your head and say, "It's a long story."

Selene smiles and says, "Well why don't we go inside, you look like you could use a drink."

You thank her as she helps you to your feet and leads you inside her home.

"Here you go. Cheers" Selene says, handing you a mug with strong smelling alcohol in it and taps them together.

You can finally relax after almost two days with no sleep. You wearily tell Selene how you ended up falling onto her roof. You aren't sure when, but you fall asleep still sitting at Selene's table.

Chapter 23: Projection

You awaken feeling very weak. It seems your wounds have almost completely healed and your stomach no longer feels uneasy. You don't see Selene anywhere but you notice there is a note on the table.

It reads, 'I had an early shift today but don't worry, you can stay as long as you'd like. There's some food in the fridge if you're hungry. I'll be back later, if you're still around I'd like to talk. -Selene'

Food. That's right, you haven't eaten since you were sent to the island, no wonder you feel so weak. You open the fridge and are delighted to see it is nearly full, so you choose some kind of meat and cook it in a large pan on Selene's stove. You don't know what kind of animal this meat came from but right now it doesn't matter, it tastes delicious and you finish nearly all of it.

You sit back in the chair and think about your situation. Priscilla and Kira are presumably still in Ardent City, unless they started making their way back to Valen already. Either way, from Cyldell it is a long journey back to Valen City. You suppose that is where you should be headed, although you don't know for sure your comrades are coming at all. Maybe they are searching the desert for you? Damn, you need to contact them somehow. You calm yourself and try to think back to your meeting with Iliya. She said she was the one who attacked the Elysium, meaning she has been watching you for quite some time, presumably since you arrived in Thanos.

You want to stay and thank Selene for her hospitality, but you don't want to get her involved with Iliya or the demons either. You decide to leave before Selene returns, so you write a quick thank you note and leave it on the table. You gather your things and step outside. If there is any way to get in touch with your friends, maybe someone in Cyldell can help, it is the city of magic after all. You walk through the front gate to the city and go to the market. After asking around a bit, no one seems to be able to help you. You remember C.C. being quite adept at magic and wonder if anyone from this brothel could help you. It's a long shot, but you have no other ideas so you ask around and soon find the building.

It doesn't look anywhere near as fancy as C.C.'s place, but you guess you shouldn't try to compare them, this is supposed to be the top business in the city, so plenty of people should pass through here. One of them has to be able to help you somehow. You enter the brothel and are greeted by chubby pig girl. She has pink skin and floppy ears as well as a corkscrew tail.

"Welcome! I'm Kendra." She oinks, "Please have a seat anywhere, the Mistress will be with you shortly."

You don't have to wait long as a beautiful fox girl approaches you. She has bright blonde hair and several fluffy tails. Her long fox like ears are tipped with black fur, like her tails, and her pink eyes look at you with a hint of lust.

"Welcome to my brothel, I am Mistress Alexandria, but please, just call me Alex. Now tell me, what can I do for you today?"

The busty fox girl leans forward, causing her breasts to almost spill out of her red and white silk robe.

"Actually, I was wondering if you or any of your girls knew magic?" You reply.

"Oh is that what you like? Well, as it happens, there are a few girls here that can make all your dreams come true." Alex says with a wink.

You shake your head and say, "No that's, I didn't come here for that. I was separated from my friends, I wanted to know if there was anyone who could help me contact them."

Alexandria looks confused and says, "Do you know where they are?" You tell her they are in Ardent City and she looks even more confused now. "If you came here all the way from Ardent City, what makes you think your friends are still there?" She asks.

"It's a long and confusing story, but I ended up here and I know they're still in Ardent City. I need to let them know I'm alright and meet up with them." You explain.

Alex puts her hand to her chin and thinks for a moment before saying, "There might be a way, but it's unreliable."

You aren't sure what she means but you say, "Please, anything will help at this point, I can give you whatever arens I have left."

Alex smiles and says, "We charge our customers for sex. Helping people is always free. You just wait here I want you to meet someone, well, two people actually."

With that, Alex walks back upstairs and leaves your sight. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, even if your can just let them know you're alive, you can tell them to meet you somewhere and get things back on track.

A few minutes later, Alex comes back downstairs and says, "They won't be in for about another hour, maybe you should grab a drink in the meantime?"

You shake your head and say, "I think I'll check the shops, I'll be back in a little bit."

Alex nods and says, "Alright then, see you soon."

As you step outside and approach the plaza leading to the market, someone throws their arm around your shoulders and says, "I hope you weren't planning on leaving without saying hello."

You turn around and see Farah smiling and you both laugh.

"Farah, it's good to see you up and around again. How are you?" You say a little surprised to see her.

"Great! I just got my new ship delivered today! Wanna check it out?" She says nudging you with her elbow.

She's got a new ship already? Maybe you could meet up with Priscilla and Kira sooner?

"Yeah let's go." You say and follow Farah to the docks. "There she is, Elysium was supposed to be some kind of utopia, but it burned away. And out of the ashes came this baby!"

Farah says excitedly as you read the letters emblazoned on the side of the ship.

"Ashstep?" You ask confused.

"Yeah, she's twice as nimble as the Elysium and because all that's gonna be left of those fuckin demons is ash after we're through with them." Farah says with a malicious look on her face. Changing her tone, Farah says, "So how 'bout it? Want a lift?"

You nod and as you follow Farah onto the deck you ask, "So you're going to fight the demons now?"

She stops and laughs before saying, "I'm still really pissed about my ship, so I thought as compensation, I'd destroy their little anti air defenses. A brand new trade route all to myself out to be enough I think. And with you here, we can really give 'em hell!"

You explain to Farah that you are trying to contact your friends and she says, "Is that even possible? It's so far."

You nod and say, "There might be a way, I have to meet with someone who may be able to help."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go find out and then we can take off!" Farah says excitedly.

You nod and thank Farah for her generosity before making your way back to the brothel.

"There you are Mika." Alex greets you with a smile as she stands atop the grand staircase and motions for you to follow her. "Come up here, I think it would be best if we had some privacy."

You follow her upstairs and into a room where two cat girls are sitting on the bed.

"The dark haired one is Shiori and this is her twin sister Seori. They have a special kind of link between them and I think they might be able to help you." Alex says.

You look over at the cat girls and see that they look completely different. Shiori has dark black hair and her skin is tanned. She has piercing green eyes and sits confidently on the edge of the bed looking back at you and flicking her long black tail around. Seori on the other hand, seems more timid and reserved. Her light blonde hair and beautiful yellow eyes compliment her pale silky skin. She sits with her legs tucked up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them.

"What kind of magic can they use?" You ask Alex.

"Hey I'm right here you know? Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shiori says annoyed.

"Enough Shiori, can you just explain it to her?" Alex says folding her arms beneath her breasts.

"Ugh, fine. Seori and I can communicate telepathically. We can also project our telepathy so that other people can hear it, but there's a catch. We have to know the person, at least a little. When we talk with people and share experiences with them, we grow accustomed to their unique magical frequency and then we can send our thoughts to them directly, but it has a pretty short range." Shiori explains.

You think for a moment and say, "What kind of range are you talking about?"

Shiori thinks about it and says, "If we split up, we can increase our range, but we would still have to be close enough to each other to maintain our link. At most, I would say we could cover an area about half the size of Cyldell."