Chapter 18: Corruption

  Igor perspective

  [After the fight In the coliseum]

  After giving Colt his new weapon I left to speak with Mia.

  Watching that boy try to smile gave me a good laugh.

  I walked down the hallway and approached Mia, who was standing behind the desk at the front.

  "I need a favor from you" I wiped the smile from my face.

  "Sure, how can I help!" She answered up beat.

  "Someone will try to kidnap Colt today, I need you by his side at all times. Understood?"

  Her smile stiffened, she froze by the unexpected 'favor'.

  'It's not like I'm giving her a choice, she either listens or she listen'

  Realizing she had no say in the matter, she simply nodded her head, recomposing herself once again.

  From the corner of my eye, i saw Colt approaching. Deciding to change the subject I turned my head towards Colt and gave him a slight grin

  "Colt, you'll be living with Mia from here on out, please make sure to have her wake up on time and keep her in check"

  I felt a vibration in my pocket.

  'I need to leave. Haven is calling for me. Probably found something new about this 'Corruption'

  "Ah I'll also Iiked to say that while I'm not around, your to follow her orders. within reason of course" I said

  I saw as Colt eyes unfocused his body swaying slightly before he once again recomposed himself.

  I turned around facing the door and grabbing the door knob.

  "Great, now if you'll excuse me I have business to attend to"

  I left them behind and exited The Chain Market.

  'Alright Haven you better be summoning me for a good reason'

  I clenched my fist angerly.

  ######

  After finding a secluded place, I pulled the gem out of my pocket and poured my Mana inside.

  I was transported to a forest, except all the trees were black and withered, no wild life could be seen anywhere you looked.

  The sky was a murky red, as if it was like muddy water.

  Behind me I heard a voice.

  "Igor, I have important information regarding the 'corruption' that has appeared."

  Turning around I glared at Haven.

  "Well then, spit it out brat!"

  "There appears to be 4 stages to the corruption. In The first stage, the victims body is slowly taken over by the corrupttion and dies at a slow rate. After the victim dies. Stage 2 occurs."

  Pausing for a second, Haven thinks to herself.

  "Actually we can see how stage 2 occurs right now" shifting her body and pass Igor she says

  "Follow me, there was a monster I found that died and should be reviving anytime soon"

  'Reviving!' I thought shocked to myself

  I followed Haven, with curiosity. Something like this is not normal, unheard of even. Considering that what ever this corruption is, It's not something from this world.

  The air was stale, it was strange that no monsters were around, not even corrupted monsters.

  We walked. slowly over time, I began to hear a rumbling and hissing sound.

  "Were almost there" Haven said expressionless.

  Coming into view was a pond. The water was stagnat and black, filled with blood, pus and dead tree branches.

  In the middle of the pond was a giant fish, the hissing and rumbling was coming from its corpes.

  It looked like maggots were wriggling under its skin, reconstructing it's body from the inside.

  "So, this is stage 2?" I said disgusted.

  "Yes, the corruption in the 2 stage rebuilds the body from the inside and strengthens the monster. Of course the monster isn't alive anymore. What I don't know is what's controlling it. I haven't been able to figure it out yet, and Jaxon isnt having any luck."

  "Where is he?" I asked.

  "He left to observe a monster that is in the 3rd stage and about to go on to the 4 fourth."

  "And what's the fourth stage"

  "I don't know, all I know is that they die. Though I suspect that In the fourth stage they self destruct like a bomb. We've only seen corpes of corrupted monster that seem to have blown up from the inside"

  The fish in the pond went berserk all of a sudden.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Oh, that was faster than expected. It usuallys take a hour for it to reach stage three"

  The fish's body rapidly changed, it grew many feet-like tentacles that sprouted from its body.

  It's eyes were red, the white part of its eyes black.

  It scales shine a black hue, like a black diamond.

  The fish turned towards Igor and charged at him.

  It speed was incredible. It appeared right infront of Igor, about to eat him.

  Igor created a barrier infront of himself.

  The fish crashed into the barrier and fell back as it failed to destroy it.

  Igor, staring at his barrier notices that it cracked slightly.

  My brows furrowed.

  'It shouldn't be this strong. This monster isn't capable of such power'

  "In stage three the corpes is reanimated and brought back to life, kind of. Anyway, it's original power is multipled atleast ten-fold. It can be more, but from what I've seen, the multipler seems to be random"

  "I see." I said squinting my eyes.

  'That's good to know. Maybe in the future I can make use of its power'

  The frustration fades away, replaced by anticipation and eagerness. Thinking about how in the future, if I can find out how to replicate the multipler. It will make my plans for killing the demon king a lot easier.

  I erased the barrier and raise my hand, my palm facing the overgrown fish.

  Slowly blue light formed infront of my palm. It turned into wind, forming into a circle.

  I shot the wind sphere at the fish as it charged at me again.

  It vaporizered the fish instantly, red mist filling the air.

  Sigh

  'Well this is good for now'

  "Have you find a cure?" I asked tilting my head slightly to the side.

  ".....no" Haven says disappointingly

  I trusted her answer, she wasn't someone that would betray me. After all, our relationship is one of mutual benefit. We both have things we need from each other.

  She stared at me, waiting expectingly for me to give her something.

  I take out 2 star shaped fruit and tossed it towards her.

  She eagerly catches it and stashes it away in her grey jacket.

  "Call me over when you figure out more on this corruption, specifically how long they live for until they self destruct"

  'Mia should be at her house with Colt' I thought.

  I slowly disappeared into the shadows of the tree.

  ___________________________________________

  Mia perspective.

  'This kid is just like everyone else.' I thought as I took him throught the shopping district, guiding him to my home.

  'He is cold just like everyone in this damn world. He will probably try to get rid of me so he can further his own plans, what ever they are.'

  I knew nothing about this boy but that didn't matter. If Igor took an interest in him, he must be no good. He's probably just as fucked up as him.

  I hated him. I had a feeling that one day In the future, this boy would kill me.

  I made it to the resident district still guiding him.

  The people here have a weird sense of morals.

  They find slaves to be nothing but tools, death something common and not to be made a big deal of. They can resort to killing so easily.

  Looking at the resident district and it's people, you wouldn't think such a thing would be possible.

  'But its all a lie, these assholes only care about themselves. If they truly were good people, they wouldn't have abandoned my parents. They were sold as slaves and no one did anything. Even after everything my parents did for this city. They protected this city, but when everyone saw them behind bars In shackles, everyone looked away. They ignored them.'

  Squinting my eyes slighty, i bite my lips hard.

  'They only looked out for themselves.'

  We finally made it home.

  I inwardly sighed.

  "Were here, home sweet home!" I said gleefully as I let go of his hand.

  I need to alway control what people see me as. That's why despite my Inner turmoil, I act happy.

  I walked up to the door and pulled my keys out.

  Unfortunately, my mind was a mess.

  I drop the keys to the ground on accident.

  "Haha. Took me a while but I finally got it open" I laugh self-deprecatly.

  Can't break, Not yet.

  Part of me felt like crying. I was tired, tired of everything, but I couldn't give up yet.

  'I need to kill the person who murdered my parents'

  Calming myself I said "My home is your home, so feel free to grab whatever you want"

  We entered and he noticed the mess of books and the unkempt bed.

  'Really Emma , you could of cleaned before you left.'

  " Ah, I forgot to clean that. It's just another roommate of mine, they never clean their mess" I said.

  I slowly walked over to the mess on the floor and picked it up, throwing the books on the bed when I was done.

  When i finished cleaning i said "Alright! let me show you to your room." My upbeat tone dulled slightly towards the end.

  'I hope he didn't notice' i thought to myself.

  Walking down the hallway, I noticed my room slightly opened.

  I froze, I never left it opened.

  I snaped out of it quickly and closed my door before Colt could see inside, though before I closed it I saw Igor sitting in the middle of my room, on the floor.

  'What does he want' I thought

  "Haha, my rooms a mess right now. I'll just keep it shut"

  We walked pass my room and made our way to the second door.

  "This is your room, make yourself at home" I said hastily as i zipped around and entered my room.

  I closed my door behind me and locked it.

  Waiting for me there was Igor, who was now laying on the floor, arms and legs spread out.

  I opened my mouth to asked what he wanted, until he interrupted me

  "Do you still want revenge?" He asked as he stared at the ceiling.

  My mind halted.

  'Why is he talking about this now, what does he want by saying this'

  ".....Yes." I replied.

  "Good, then you'll have to use Colt to reach your goal"

  'What, why? He has nothing to do with this.' I thought

  "Become good friends with him so he'll be your sword that kills for you, So he'll become your sword that slays 'Him' " he said in a deep voice.

  'What?! Become friends with him. That's impossible, it's like asking me to make you fall In love with me'

  "You'll find that, that boy is easier to manipulate than me." He said, his eyes shifting towards me when he said this.

  "I already know that you hate me. Your attempts at being friendly and letting my guard down are useless. Everything I've revealed to you In the passed was because I wanted you to know" he said in a cold voice

  My blood froze. My entire body felt like I was being buried alive, unable to move.

  'He knew? How? Why didn't he say anything earlier if he knew?'

  "Everything you know about me, is what I've allowed you to know, nothing more." He got up and sat down.

  "I put a suitcase under your bed. It's for Colt. Tomorrow, take him to the mines. Of course your to accompany him as well"

  He pointed under my bed.

  "Don't open it, only Colt is allowed to open it"

  He stood up and walked towards the window in my room.

  Putting his foot on the open window, he turned his head and said.

  "Just as a heads up, someone is nearby"

  With that. He jumped out the window and left.

  'Someone nearby, what does he mean by that?'

  I thought for a second and came to the conclusion that it was probably one of the kidnappers Igor previously talked about.

  I headed towards Colt's room.

  I opened the door and was greeted by a passed out Colt.

  I looked around and saw the window opened.

  'Someone's here.'

  I acted as if nothing was amiss and walked towards Colt.

  I covered him with the blankets and fixed his posture.

  ' I can't have the person know, that I know he's here'

  After that I touched his forehead with my palm.

  'He has a fever.'

  I felt a presence behind me appear, but I pay it no mind.

  I got ready to release my magic.

  'Not yet, he's not close enough'

  I waited as he got closer, every second agonizing, knowing that if I was late by even a milsecond, I would be killed.

  Right as I felt the person was about to attack. I turned around suddenly and summoned ice spikes from the ground and shot it towards him.

  The spikes pierced right through his entire body and then some.

  I slammed my hands over his mouth and slowly his mouth froze.

  Nothing but low muffled screams could be heard from him.

  After a couple of seconds he died.

  'I need to dipose of him'

  Slowly the ice that grew from the ground slowly disappeared.

  As I was about to pick his body I heard crying.

  I looked over to see that it was Colt crying in his sleep.

  I just killed someone but this scene shook me from the inside.

  I felt my mind became strained, my breathing slighty heavy.

  'When you cry like that you look almost human.' I thought, as I continued cleaning up the mess.