Chapter 9: A Magical Night: Part 3
It felt like Jin had been walking through the same area countless times. This forest could be a maze at times, but it usually had landmarks here and there. Here, wherever ‘here’ was, there was no difference in the scenery that told if he was making any progress. It must be another pixie illusion. He was growing too tired to even yell in frustration like he had wanted to. He wanted nothing more than to wake up back at camp. To sigh in relief after finding out that all this headache-inducing irritation was just another nightmare. To work on reinforcing defenses with Anubis, Ryn and… Leliana.
He had forgotten that they were even supposed to be looking for her. How long had he been walking? The pixie said she was with the corrupted assassin, could he have…killed her by now?
Jin quickly shook the thought away. Making sure that he stopped walking in circles was his top priority. He could find his way back to the others faster and much more easily if he could fly, but his wings were still ‘hilariously small’, and couldn’t lift him at all. Thankfully, his claws were still in working order. After slashing through thin trees and vines, he finally found himself in another clearing. He barely had a chance to sigh in relief before he realized that it was the same clearing he had been in to begin with.
The voice sounded mature and elegant, with the same echoing voice that all corrupts had. He nearly jumped up in surprise when he realized that there was a pixie on his shoulder. It wasn’t the boyish-looking one though, it wore a robe-like dress made of twigs, and curly hair almost as long as it was tall. He distinctly remembered it as being just as childish and annoying as it’s siblings, so why did it seem so calm now? He looked at it with narrowed eyes.
“What do you want now? Your… brother or whatever it is, already showed me my 'fated future’, so why don’t you all ju-!” Jin was cut off as the pixie flew in front of him, and touched a clawed finger to his forehead.
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Images flashed before his eyes, memories he didn’t remember having started to play in his head.
“W-What are you doing? What’s gotten into you?” Leliana asked, taking slow steps away from him.
“Leliana?” Jin muttered under his breath in reality.
Jin tried to look around in the illusion, as if he was really there. It being in the format of a memory, he couldn’t see anymore than where he was looking when it took place. Except it hadn’t taken place yet…so maybe it was another look into the future? Point is, he couldn’t see where he was, as he was glaring at the cowering human female. He was apparently seeing it through his future self’s eyes? It all hurt his brain to think too much about.
“Power, plain and simple.” Jin replied. “You being a full human, you could never understand how good it feels to have the powers of a demigod. To have not only one, but two species under my control, as well as the best parts of both of them. Being the way I am, I’m more powerful than a corrupt or a human.”
The words weren’t his own, but he could feel his mouth moving to say them. Could feel the passion behind them as he raised his clawed hand, no, as the 'future Jin’ raised his clawed hand. Then, he could feel the disdain as he stared at the vision of Leliana. She seemed so much more submissive than he remembered her being, so much more…inferior to him.
“But, that doesn’t mean that you never could if you…enhanced yourself.”
“Back when my mother ran things, there was no way to perfectly combine human and corrupt DNA. I was a freak of nature, or as I like to think, born more superior than the average human.”
He started to pace around her, narrowing his eyes as he examined her from head to toe. Without stopping, he continued his speech.
“But, ever since I took over, I’ve been working on something that would solve that problem. An injection just diluted enough that it won’t fully corrupt even the weakest human. Instead, it would turn them into something much more useful, superior, power-”
Jin paused in his monologue to catch a punch Leliana had thrown at him. He gave an amused smirk at the attempt, before digging his claws into her closed fist. She let out a soundless squeak that would’ve been a scream if she hadn’t been feeling so weak.
“You’re right, I never was a fan of words. Always been a man of action.” he said, not letting go of her, now bleeding, hand. “I guess this means that you aren’t interested in being my halfling queen?”
“N…Ngh…N-Never!” she yelled out.
Jin gave a sigh, with a shake of his head. “Then, I suppose it’s time to do what I should’ve done years ago.” he growled.
It went by so fast, Jin wasn’t completely sure his strike hit it’s target, until he saw the blood run down from the human woman’s throat. She gasped and coughed up blood, finally falling to the ground once he let go of her hand. He figured he’d feel something from her death, satisfaction, pride that one more obstacle was out of his way, maybe even disappointment over the loss of a potential bride. But, he felt nothing as he walked away from her.
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Jin hadn’t realized he was grinding his teeth, or that his fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were turning white, until the illusion was over. The pixie was still fluttering in front of his face, it’s expression still eerily calm for a pixie corrupt. It didn’t even flinch when he wrapped his fist around it.
“Why would you show me that? What was that?” Jin demanded.
“I was only showing you what would happen, if you were to continue down this path.” the pixie answered.
“What are you talking abou-”
Another tap on the forehead, and false memories filled his mind again.
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This time, he knew exactly where he was. He was sitting on the large throne that overlooked the main room of the corrupt castle. There were two lines of corrupts, one to the left and right, waiting in silence. Before long, two more corrupts burst through the double doors of the throne room, dragging another along with them. It was thrown roughly onto the ground, before it got to it’s feet, breathing hard. It was Anubis. He may have been bleeding, but since corrupted blood is black, it was nearly impossible to tell against Anubis’ dark fur.
“Long time, no see, buddy!” Jin greeted, a mock-joyful smile plastered on his face. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” he added, his sarcastic grin quickly turning into a cold scowl.
“What… What do you…want from me, Jin?” Anubis panted, sending a piercing glare towards Jin.
“It’s. The. Corrupted. King!” he replied.
On the last word, Jin’s vision turned bright purple, and he raised a glowing hand up, before swiftly slashing it back down. Anubis was surrounded in a purple aura, and before he could realize what was happening, he was brought down to his knees in a kneeling position.
“What…was that?” Jin found himself saying in reality. Had he inherited his mother’s magic? No. He didn’t care. This wasn’t him, and it would never be him.
Anubis growled as he tried to resist the magic aura, to no avail. Jin got up from the throne, stepping towards Anubis, still acting as if he was greeting a friend. When he released Anubis from the aura, he didn’t so much as flinch when Anubis attempted to leap at him. Mostly because as soon as he tried, the two guards that dragged him into the room held him down.
“Anubis, Anubis…” Jin sighed, shaking his head. “Resorting to recklessly throwing yourself at opponents much stronger than you? No wonder we finally got our hands on you.”
“You 'got your hands on me’, because you threatened to kill Tak if I didn’t show myself.” Anubis said, with a scowl.
“Who…?” Jin muttered in reality.
“Stop talking! You’re disrupting the illusion.” the pixie snapped.
“Tak?” Jin had a confused expression for a split second, before smirking in his realization. “Ah yes, that other corrupt you’re so fond of. They’re fine. Living comfortably deep in my dungeons. I wonder if I remembered to send food to the cell… Ah, they could probably go another week. That’s not what I brought you here for anyway. It occurred to me that you could be a threat to me.”
“How? You’ve already proven how easily you can capture me. How could I be a threat to you?” Anubis asked.
“Don’t play dumb. I know about the little rebellion you’ve been planning along with our old friends ever since Leliana fell by my hand. Can’t risk you or any of the others being a hero, now can I?” Jin said, as he gently grabbed both sides of Anubis’ head, digging his claws in enough to draw blood. “With that said, goodbye.”
His grip tightened, and with a strong pull upwards while simultaneously digging his claws further into the corrupts skull, a satisfying, sickly, wet snap was heard. The corrupt’s body fell limp to the ground, and Jin nonchalantly tossed Anubis’ head over his shoulder, allowing two rat-like corrupts to feast on it.
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A wave of nausea fell over Jin, and he fought to not puke where he stood. He reached out to grab the pixie, which fluttered just out of his reach each time.
“Tell me why you’re showing me this!” Jin demanded.
“Still don’t understand? This is why corrupted royalty can never have allies. Especially not humans and rouge corrupts. In the end, you will succumb to the power that comes with being the Corrupted King after defeating your mother. In the end, you will kill all you’ve come to know as your 'friends’. The redheaded girl, the corrupt rogue, the dark-haired girl, and a few more that I’d prefer not to spoil the surprise about. They will all fall under your superior power.” the pixie replied. The obnoxious, fang exposing grin that the pixies were known for was spread on it’s face.
With a loud roar, Jin tried to claw at the pixie in frustration. Something knocked him to the ground, it felt like a strong wind. He hit the ground hard, and found himself unable to get back up. The pixie tauntingly smiled down at his face. He was just about to test if he could blow the thing away with his breath, when he heard a familiar voice.
He looked up, his body still pressed against the ground, and his eyes widened in horror. Leliana, Anubis, even Ryn, whose death he hadn’t witnessed, were standing there in front of him. But, they weren’t as he remembered them. Leliana had four long scars across her throat where he had ripped it out. Anubis’s head was crudely sewn back on to his body. Ryn, however, was the most haunting. He didn’t see him kill her, because he hadn’t killed her. Her torso had entire chunks bitten out of it. He guessed that other corrupts had gotten to her, probably before he even turned evil.
He wanted to scream, to swear loudly, to have some kind of guilt-ridden reaction, but he couldn’t find the energy to do any of it, a different energy fueled him. The energy that allowed him to fight against the invisible chains keeping him on the ground. The adrenaline that allowed him to give an inhuman roar as he lunged at the illusions.
“You…are not…real!” Jin panted, trying to attack them, but his claws only caught air. “You’re NOT them!”
The illusions were like water, only rippling when his claws did hit their mark. Their hurt expressions only filled him with more rage.
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“I hear something coming from the east path.” Anubis announced.
“Do you think it might be Jin?” Leliana asked.
“Most likely, and it sounds as if he’s in danger.”
That’s all that the trio needed to start running down the right pathway. Ren still going unnoticed as he silently followed after them.
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Jin’s anger was the only thing keeping him from growing tired as he hopelessly slashed at the illusions. He didn’t care that none of what he was doing was affecting them. He wanted them to go away. To stop impersonating his teammates. He didn’t even notice the pixies watching him from the trees.
“This is bo-ring!” The boyish pixie groaned.
“Couldn’t you have made illusions that fight back?” The one in the dress sighed.
“Things are about to get much more interesting, my siblings.” The robed pixie replied.
As if on cue, Leliana, Ryn, and Anubis burst into the clearing. The pixies collectively grinned at each other, before turning into black fog. Jin’s blind rage turned to confusion. The illusions had disappeared. Had he defeated them?
No, they hadn’t disappeared, just changed. They didn’t have any wounds anymore, so they looked even more like his allies. He didn’t care, he wouldn’t go any easier on them for making him feel so damn guilty. He pounced at the one that looked like Leliana first.
The illusion stood there, stunned. The other two grabbed him, holding him down and pinning him to the ground. He didn’t know they could fight back. They looked down at him in concern, and the one that looked like Ryn may have said something, but his mind was too far away to hear it. He dug his claws into the two of them, forcing them to let him go.
'Ryn’ said something more, her hands up as if trying to calm him. He incapacitated her with a roundhouse kick, making her fall to the ground with a bruise quickly forming on her head. 'Anubis’ slashed at his back, he yelled in pain, swiftly turned, and drew his claws across the illusions eyes. It screamed out, stumbling back and leaving itself wide open for a hard punch from Jin, causing it to drop to the ground as well.
The last one, 'Leliana’ was shaking as she tried to pull out her sword. Jin rushed towards her, but was hit from behind with a powerful kick from above. He wobbled as he tried to stand, looking over at his attacker. It was the corrupted assassin from before. Before Jin could ask what he was doing here, or even try to attack him, he was picked up and lifted into the air, courtesy of the assassin’s wings. He planned to drop Jin from high up.
Before he let them get too high, Jin elbowed the corrupt’s stomach, making him loosen his grip on him. Jin fell to the ground, thankful that his bone structure was stronger than a human’s. As the assassin descended back towards him, Jin threw a high kick up, knocking the corrupt away with relative ease. He brought his attention back to the Leliana clone, with a vicious growl he tackled her to the ground.
She looked up at him with terrified, tear-filled eyes. The gray, almost silver irises taunted him. Reminded him of the real Leliana. Without another second of hesitation, he brought a claw down, digging for his target, and ignoring her screams and the sick, wet sound as he pulled out his prize. 'Leliana’ fainted as he stood. He thought it was for the best, he couldn’t stand to hear her voice coming from a copy.
Jin threw back his head and called out, “Where are they, pixies? Why waste my time with mockeries?!”
All three appeared on his shoulders, grinning obnoxiously. The boyish one spoke first. “How do humans say it? They’re…right under your nose.”
Jin froze up, his mind finally clearing of the bloodlust that previously ran through it. He couldn’t will himself to look down. To look at what he had done. His shaky hand dropped the eyeball. The last thing he heard before passing out was the shrill, sadistic laughter of the pixies.
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