That voice... why did it sound like the recording of my Alarm, why did it sound like my sister? What did this bastard creature on my shoulder do to my sister?!
The pain that was total vanished, and for a moment I thought my body began to expand, "What did you do to my sister?" I snarled at the grey man on my shoulder, my voice raw with a fury I had not known I possessed. "What did you do to her?!"
The grey man’s yellow eyes flickered. For a moment, something like confusion passed across his gaunt features. Then his spike-tongue pulsed, and another wave of pain drove through my skull. I felt something slip away, a memory that resembled a flash of white and calm blue eyes.
"I... I... will kill you... kill you all..."
I tried to raise my hand, but I could not move it above a few inches. The grey man’s throat worked, swallowing the fragment of my mind, and I felt the weight of him settle deeper against my shoulders. He was feeding and was enjoying it.
I reached for something, crying out for my hands to move, but my body, which seemed to have expanded, began to shrink, and my arms could not rise higher than my waist.
"Kill you... kill you..." I kept muttering to myself even when I no longer knew why I was saying this. I turned around and ran my hand through my hair, damnit, I was sweating so much; this headache was killing me.
I glanced at my hand, and I thought it was filled with blood, and after I blinked, it was just my sweat. Then screams came from behind me, and I forgot the reason I was muttering like a madman and saw something worse happening in the camp.
Adept Torvin was on the ground, his staff lay shattered beside him, and he was trying to push himself up, but his arms would not hold him. Even from where I stood, I could clearly see his pale face and his eyes wide with shock and betrayal.
Scholar Orath stood over him, his hands were wrapped in red light, and his face was twisted, with his cold green eyes blazing with something that looked almost like ecstasy.
"You know, I had thought that you might have understood the truth, but you were always a fool, Torvin," Scholar Orath said. His voice was different from how I had heard him speak before. Now he was speaking like those annoying men who wanted to sell you a course for quick wealth. "You believed in the Academy, in the Council. Hehehehe... You believed in the power of knowledge to save the world, but you were so blind that you never understood that knowledge is just a tool. Power is the only thing that matters."
Torvin coughed, blood spattering his lips. "Orath... are you insane... what have you done? The Council would kill you for this."
"What I have always done," Orath said. "What I was always meant to do. I have served the Sovereign of the Stars for longer than you have been alive, Torvin. This has always been the plan, and I am not the only Adept in Aldenmere who knows this. How else did you think this expedition was greenlit?"
Torvin tried to rise again. His arms buckled, and he collapsed, his eyes fluttering closed.
I should be shocked by what I was seeing, but somehow, all of this seemed familiar, and it was driving me crazy.
Bari and Dara were running toward me, their mouths open in shouts I could not hear over the roaring in my ears. Commander Rel was behind them, walking slowly. I have seen a cat stalking its prey, and she reminded me of a big cat.
’I told them to leave. Why did they stay behind?’
The thought hit me out of nowhere, and an anger that I could not contain surged out of my chest as I saw the madness rising around me.
’How dare they... how dare they stand before me and not beg for my mercy?’
I shook my head as a growing headache was coming up, but an anger that I could no longer bottle was rising, and the pain no longer seemed as important.
Bari and Dara reached me, and they stood in front of me, bringing out their staff as they began to conjure pitiful amounts of magic.
By all the lights in heaven, why do I have thoughts like this when I should be fearing for my life?
Commander Rel stopped in front of us, and she looked at us with her calm grey eyes, but I was watching her hand and looking at a force spell conjuration growing.
It was fascinating watching her create this spell, not because of the power I could feel inside, but how perfectly she held her Anima, and how it bled through her skin... her channels must be very durable, meaning she must have high Force Resonance, which was most likely at the Adept level.
From what I was seeing, she was packing enough power to turn all three of us into paste if that spell left her hand, and it did not matter if Bari and Dara were in front of me.
They were shouting, gesturing at Commander Rel, and I could not hear them beyond the anger bubbling up at the core of my being, and I wanted everything to stop making so much fucking noise!
Orath was still speaking to Adept Torvin, and I could hear him clearly. I could even hear the beating of his heart and the saliva sliding inside his mouth. I could hear and feel everything, but it was not enough; there was something binding my eyes and my memories, and all of this was creating an increasing loop of anger inside my head.
Dara was setting up a web of light in front of us using her Threadwork, and Bari was creating one of the strongest Surge I had ever felt from him, but I knew it was not enough.
Commander Rel held up her hand, and I pushed myself to the front of my friends. I felt a wave of force slam into my chest, and it flung me back until my back hit the pyramid.
I could hear screams from my friends, but the bolt of force from the Commander did not hurt; in fact, it felt nice, as for a moment, the blinding headache subsided.
"Stay away from us..." I could hear Bari screaming as he stood over my fallen body.
’Stupid brat, I want her to pound me like a drum.’