Spending time with Carlos was a dream. Instead of getting beaten black and blue, he explained to me the basics of all the major professions in more depth and using modern knowledge and terminology than I'd learned while in the trial. He'd also shown me all of his spirits. Apparently, animal and plant spirits can choose to materialize and fight alongside you, or use your body as a conductor for their power. Carlos only had two contracts, Achmed a soul type skilled in Air Elemental Laws, and a giant bear Carlos called Diego who specializes in Water Elemental Laws.
I managed to catch up with Rick and Sarah just as the buses pulled into the parking lot. "Where were you?" Rick asked accusingly, "You didn't drop out did you? If you did, Beth will kill you."
"Nah, I was talking with Elder Carlos about some things." I said, smiling as Sarah caught sat down in a seat next to us. "How was weapons training?" I asked, setting off groans from both of them.
"If you thought it was rough getting the shit kicked out of you by Mr. Harmon, imagine sparring a guy who uses just a little more speed and strength then you while being an absolute master of the sword. Every time you exchange blows, he cuts you. Lightly at first, but as time goes on he keeps cutting the same freaking spot until your arm falls off."
Shuddering, I couldn't help but think I'd made the right choice not pursuing weapons any longer. "How'd you manage to get out weapons training anyway?" Sarah asked, looking jealous.
"I'm a mindscape cultivator, I went to get advice on how to train properly. I don't think I'm going to pursue a weapon anymore than I already have anyway."
"What?" Rick asked, "You got really good at staff fighting, I figured you'd pursue that for a while."
"What's the point?" I asked, "My family specializes in barrier and other defensive techniques, and I haven't even started refining my mind but I can already deal more damage by shooting ice at you than I could ever do with a staff. Maybe, I'll purse a defensive style in the future, just in case someone breaks through my barriers."
"Ahah!" He exclaimed with a giant smile, "You can't get out of weapons training anymore!" He seemed far too happy that I'd be getting tortured along side him.
"You should really pursue some type of defensive martial art if that's your plan." Sarah said, looking at me seriously, "Several of our family have died because they trusted too much in their barrier techniques. Nothing is infallible...."
She kept on talking, but her voice got quieter and quieter until I could see her move her mouth but no noise came out. Sarah's face paled as she realized what was happening. With a massive flare of heat, her arms turned into flame and she waved them around in a circular motion. As the flames moved, color and noise seemed to come back, but only around us.
"What's happening?" I asked, now that I could be heard.
Surprisingly Rick spoke first, "I feel something wrong, it's like the Elemental Energy is being turned into something... evil."
Sarah and I shared a look, 'Damn, I didn't think I'd run into corrupted so soon. At least the conversation with Carlos today prepared me for the possibility.'
Trying my implant, I found that I couldn't send messages to anyone. "My implant's blocked, you guys?"
"Blocked." They both said simultaneously.
Rick must've noticed the look Sarah and I had shared because he said, "You know about them, don't you?"
"Screw it, yeah I know about corrupted energy." Sarah nodded, her arms still moving as she tried to create a barrier of flame to protect us from whatever was causing this.
Rick took a deep breath, and started glowing in a white, holy light as he stood. The feeling of corruption spreading suddenly halted, and a skittering noise was heard from the front of the bus. "Well, lets do this!" Walking towards the front, Rick tried to rouse all the other passengers, but they'd all passed out.
"It's too late," Sarah said, looking at them sadly, "unless we can find the source, these people will eventually turn into corrupted beings and we'll have to deal with them then."
Looking at the familiar faces in the bus, my heart went cold. Intellectually, I'd known about the dangers of corrupted energy and beings, but the thought of what they were doing to people I'd known for most of my life...
"That shouldn't be too hard." I said, an edge I'd never heard in my own voice before coming through. "It'll be coming for me, I'm what it wants." I said, surprising Rick and Sarah.
"What do you mean?" Rick asked, while Sarah gasped in sudden understanding.
"You received the full inheritance of the Storm's Refuge. Holy shit!"
"What's she talking about." Rick asked, looking pissed.
"When I joined Storm's Refuge, my soul was branded with the mark of the storm. Apparently, the brand is a sort of beacon that allows my soul to be pulled into 2nd Chance..." I explained the situation to him quickly as I made my way to the driver's seat.
As I reached for the lever to open the doors, the Driver suddenly lunged at me with a crazy look in his eyes. Unlike the students, the driver hadn't received an implant yet and thus hadn't awakened or begun cultivating. Therefore, the corrupted energy worked on him far faster. With the beacon so close to him, the driver was nothing more than a mindless zombie at this point.
Something in me had started to change when I saw my classmates passed out, and slowly transforming earlier. The change completed as I raised my hand, and brought it down on his neck knocking him out. For my entire life I'd never known what hate truly felt like, I'd heard stories of people so driven by it that they'd do incredibly stupid things. I just couldn't understand it, until that moment when some creature forced me to make the decision of whether or not to kill an innocent man.
A fierce rage bubbled in my chest, and as I opened the door the air around me chilled as the wind picked up.
*BOOM*
Lightning struck the ground close by, as a thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere. I activated my barrier, and the multiple cats, dogs, and rats that'd already completed their conversion into corrupted beings where destroyed as they attacked me.
"What the fuck?" I heard Rick whisper, but I was too far gone in my rage to pay attention to him.
In front of me, another school bus had pulled up, blocking the street off and several corrupted people opened their car doors and moved towards me.
"Sarah, if we destroy the source of corruption will they recover?" I asked, never taking my eyes off the people shambling towards me.
"Yes, they can't have been exposed for more than a day. With a healer, priest, or Holy Knight the energy can be expunged and they'll return back to normal."
"Alright then, incapacitate instead of kill." Rick said, his wits returning to him after the shock of the driver. Taking out his giant shield, the holy aura around him exploded as he ran towards the other school bus.
Sarah summoned some kind of burning knives from nowhere, using them to destroy those she felt were too far gone while following Rick towards the bus.
With a deep breath, I rushed to follow in their wake. I let them deal with the people, my attacks where all too deadly. For normal people, just touching my barrier could kill them. As we made it to the bus, a creepy, high pitched laughter came from inside it.
"HEHEHEHEHEHEHE"
Slowly, the door opened to show dozens of little kids. Their teeth elongated, ears pointed, and blood with bits of flesh caught in their mouths. I almost threw up when I realized that they'd eaten the bus driver in a frenzy.
"They're too far gone!" Sarah yelled while attacking, "The source is on the bus somewhere, we have to deal with these guys before more people get pulled into this!"
Tears flowed down Ricks face as the Holy Light surrounding him flared. With a shout, he slammed his shield into the children turned into monsters and the corrupted energy around them crackled and sizzled as it met it's nemesis.
*SMASH*
Rick's shield pulverized the group of children in the front, but there were too many of them. They were getting around his shield, and biting down on his flesh making him scream out in agony. I watched as his previously blindingly bright Holy Energy dimmed a little more with each bite.
"Back off, I've got this!" I yelled, pushing him aside while Sarah used her knives to kill the ones biting him.
Rushing into the bus, I immediately activated pulse! My barrier exploded outwards as it slammed into the remaining kids, killing all but one of them. The same creepy laughter from before came back, "HEHEHEHEHE" The kid was the source of corruption. He ran with incredible speed towards me, my pulse attack having only pushed him back a few feet.
"Elemental Strike!" I called out, spears of ice shooting from my palms towards the monster. It dodged by jumping, and then in a feat of incredible agility it ran towards me on top of the bus seats, each step moving him closer to me. His mouth stretched unnaturally wide, as if he were a snake about to swallow me whole. That gave me an idea, and I recreated my barrier except this time I used almost all of my energy to increase the speed of the Air circulating around me, mixing in small shards of ice 1 inch in size. The monster reached me, and lunged for my head. Figuring I'd rather sacrifice an arm than my head if this didn't work, I shoved my hand it into his mouth.
A terrible ripping noise echoed through the bus as the incredibly fast Air turned into wind blades mixed with shards of ice ripped the monster apart. Yet, it wasn't enough. In front of my incredulous eyes I watched as his body started to rebuild itself.
"The necklace!" Rick yelled from the entrance to the bus, "The necklace is the source!"
Sure enough, a black necklace was emitting the corrupting energy in waves as it pulled together the flesh and blood of all the dead children. I rushed to grab it, but it was too late. It'd been covered in an abomination of flesh made out of all the kids. There wasn't enough room to fight such a creature on the bus, so I ran off of it as the creepy laughter started back up, "HEHEHEHEHEHEHE" echoing throughout the frozen area.
By now, Rick had fully recovered from whatever those bites had done to him. So he took the lead as he slammed into the abomination with his massive shield as it got off the bus. The sound and smell of flesh sizzling came as Sarah stabbed her blades deeply into it's flesh, but it didn't hurt it at all. Without destroying the source, it'd just continue to absorb more and more energy and flesh.
Taking a deep breath, I gathered all of my remaining energy. This would be incredibly difficult, but given the circumstances it was the only way I could think of to hurt the thing. So far, I'd practiced manipulating Air and Water Elemental Energy as it was required for me to cultivate to my current level, but I knew that if I really pushed it I could use my affinity to the storm element to call upon Lightning Energy.
The more energy I gathered, the more the wind whipped around us and the colder it got. Rick's breath was leaving his mouth in a fog, and Sarah's flame blades were actually creating mist from turning the cold condensation that was gathering in the air into steam. 'Just a little more' I thought to myself as I gathered everything I had and screamed out in pure rage.
"DIIIIEEEE!!!"
*BOOOMMM*
Rick was thrown back as a bolt of lightning struck the abomination in chest, directly where the necklace had disappeared from. I collapsed to the ground, completely wasted as every drop of strength left my body. Other than Holy Energy, Lightning is the next best at destroying corrupted energy. The overwhelming power and strength of it was almost irresistible, and so I watched as the charred hulk started to fall apart. The necklace was still intact, but had to waste too much of it's energy to resist the lightning strike. Decisively, Sarah slammed her knives into the necklace. A horrible, high-pitched screaming noise came from it as it was engulfed in flames. Yet, it still didn't die until Rick managed to get back to his feet and using the last of his Holy Energy bathed it in light.
With a crack, the necklace broke in half and then melted around Sarah's daggers. Breathing heavily, I managed to sit up and look around. Color had returned to the world, and people were starting to wonder why they were lying in the middle of the street and covered in bruises.
Using my implant, I called Carlos. "If you're done watching, I could really use a hand dealing with this."