Hex.
Seven days, at least what went for 'days' in this place in The Below, that's how long I went as a passenger in my own body. I hadn't wanted to fight, or kill anyone when I'd let the godling pummel me into unconsciousness. When I finally woke up I held a godling with snakehead tipped hair by the throat, and she seemed to be pleading for mercy. I couldn't hear anything as a passenger in my own body, and my vision was tunneled in on the godling. When the light left her eyes I felt my left arm pull free from her chest as she dropped, I could feel everything still. I stood there among fading, bloody corpses of the godlings that had captured Illiax and the others. I didn't think they had to die for it, and as I felt myself swallow some small warm object I heard an echoing laugh in my mind. "It scared us all the first time, watching our bodies be completely taken over by someone else."
Even if I'd wanted to turn my head to look for the Exile as he spoke to me, I couldn't when Illiax, and Eranna walked up to me. Their gestures implied some sort of gratitude and I was soon following them deeper into the forest. The talon fingered godling hadn't attacked me, and I saw him carrying Nek on his back as he walked ahead of me. We travelled for half a day, and while the others made conversation I walked in silence while the Exile berated me for "Thinking I had any real control" which was the last thing I heard from him before his voice stopped suddenly. The others had stopped walking, and Wraith was pointing towards a hedge that stood four meters tall; the worst part was the large group of godlings that were gathered directly in our path. Wraith didn't waste much time after putting Nek down he raced ahead while his talons grew longer. I didn't understand what he was trying to accomplish until one of the stronger godlings released their statuses together.
If I hadn't felt the echo of all that power in my body, I would've seen the others curl up in pain as their small statuses were trampled on, even Nek woke up from his comatose state and started to thrash around despite his broken limbs. I wanted to take them away from there, and I knew I could do it with this body; I could only think of the possibility of saving them as my body took a running leap into the mass of clashing statuses and my vision went away again for a moment. Every day passed that way, sometimes the next barrier would be a wall of great oak trees that reached into the sky, the solution to the parties problems would be to "Let the beast loose." as Wraith put it. When my vision was taken, I got my hearing back though everyone's voices sounded as if I were standing at one end of a far tunnel. The others gradually grew their own statuses by collecting the god cores that were eventually scattered around every barrier we came to.
Our solution to passing through the barrier also happened to be "Let the beast handle it." Though the others were afraid to approach me at first Wraith did his best to explain the situation to them. He did this by smacking the back of my head with the back of his palm, he winced audibly then before speaking. "This kid is running off pure instinct, and maybe the fact the the strongest status in the forest rests in the center. In short as long as you don't show killing intent, or release a greater status than him the beast will remain calm."
Wraith explained everything in an impassive voice that let me know he knew more about what I was than maybe anyone else I'd met in the forest. Forcing a path through each barrier wasn't pleasant, but I screamed without a voice now as stabbing pain shot through every part of my body. The pain always lasted half a day until it gradually faded, and Wraith patted my shoulder before he ordered the others to stop collecting cores. We would walk until Wraith called for us to stop and rest; the others would start to organize their prizes while I rested next to a large oak tree.
At 'night' Eranna would sit beside me her head against my shoulder while Nek argued with Illiax over allowing Wraith to stay with us. "The beast understands us all." Nek's voice shook as a snarl punctuated his sentence while Illiax no doubt stood between them. A pair of small delicate fingers gently played with mine while they argued until fatigue forced them all to sleep. It was hard to sleep when the only things I could 'see' were the moving statuses beyond the tree line. 'Another fight, more killing I don't want...'
On the fourth night while the others were sleeping Wraith tapped my shoulder, and after he removed Eranna's head from my shoulder I heard a whisper ordering me to follow. I moved without telling my body to, and soon I'd followed Wraith blindly through the tree line. Several godlings stood throwing their statuses around the newest barrier driving the weaker godlings away with loud laughter. It was always amusing for the strong to torture the weak in The World Below, it didn't take more than a few days for that to become clear to me; still a few bullies didn't deserve to die. It didn't matter to Wraith, and I couldn't stop myself from forcing my way through the group. I didn't understand why but I always managed to single out the godlings with the strongest statuses. I wouldn't stop until I held their warm god cores between my teeth, nothing could stop me from tearing into the godlings who tried to interrupt me from eating.
'Why am I not in control? Why isn't my body listening to me?' The Exile's mocking voice was always there to keep me company in this state, while Wraith took care of the godlings that hadn't ran in fear. 'You are nothing more than a plaything to him boy, and your body is little more than a weapon— Whatever else he had to say to torment me was cut off once I felt delicate fingers touch the small gem in my chest. What came next was strange, it felt as if my body was being pulled forward until my vision suddenly came back and I looked down into a worried ocean of blue.
Eranna offered me a weak smile that barely reached her eyes, and she held one hand against her own chest as we stood in the center of a hill of bodies and limbs. I could hear her heart beating in her chest, she was scared of me and she'd still made her way through the bodies for some reason. I didn't know it could rain in the forest I couldn't feel anything on my skin after all, but her blonde hair fell beneath her shoulders was dripping with water. When I saw Eranna there I finally began to understand what happened each time the four of us passed through the barriers. Our statuses were being forcibly raised and due to that our bodies were also being forced to grow. Eranna was a bit taller than before, and her body was developing in other ways it wouldn't be long until she was a fully grown godling. Illiax, and Nek would've probably been growing like her, but I didn't have time to look for them as Eranna began to slowly draw her hand away. I was desperate to keep my sight, and my hand actually moved to keep her hand pressed against the gem at the center of my chest. She jumped in surprise at the sudden movement, but her hand didn't move thankfully. I could feel the others' eyes on me but I was in shock that my body was actually listening to me again. Of course that wasn't meant to last long as my hand slowly began to let go of her hand no matter how much I told it to hold onto her. As I felt my body slowly sinking I desperately tried to speak, but the only sound from my mouth was an unpleasant feral cry.
After that I don't know what happened, my world went dark and too quiet for me to stand. Time passed, and the only reason I hadn't thought I'd died were the little pains I felt from time to time; usually they around my fingertips, but on one occasion I felt two sharp stabbing pains in my shoulders. 'Now that was a new one eh kid? I hope you don't ignore me this time.' I recognized the voice, though I'd been expecting Exile when I heard her a small bright light slowly emerged from the darkness. 'If you call me useless again I'll leave right now. You can call me Pixie, and I hope you have a good wish right now Hex.'
Eranna.
There hadn't been many things to scare her during their journey towards the Forest's heart, even when they hadn't used Hex to clear a path the other godlings hadn't been any real challenge to the party after the third forced status increase. She sat next to Illiax, and Nek on stumps that had been raised for them the day Hex had been offered up to The God Below. Bygone sat on his throne looking thinner than he's been when they'd first arrived, and she could swear the bark growing in patches on his weathered skin had lost some of its color. The ancient god's eyes were closed which made Eranna think that maybe he'd been pulled below, but Lady Folly was speaking to Wraith right in front of where the old god sat without any difficulty. They were too far away for her to hear, but judging by the expressions Folly was making with her hands Eranna had some idea as to how she felt about what Bygone was doing.
Illiax hadn't shown any sign of caring about what happened to Hex, in fact Eranna had noticed that the only other godling besides Lady Folly and herself had been Nek surprisingly. Eranna had noticed how Illiax had changed every they passed through another barrier, but when Hex had been stopped by the old god a day ago Illiax hadn't blinked while continued to follow Wraith. This had been the third day Hex was held as a sacrifice, and Eranna believed that it would be the same as it had been before; that was Bygone opened one of his eyes, and the plain around them was suddenly filled with a heavy pressure. Hex's body shook in the air as his arms flailed while an eerie screech filled the air as he strained to free himself.
It was too late for that though The One Below was awake, and Hex could struggle until his body gave out, but he was marked already. Eranna couldn't take her eyes off of the scene as every time Hex attempted to free himself the larger the dark red pool of blood below him got. Before long a dark hand around the size of the Minotaur godling rose up from the pool, and it grabbed Hex with fingers dripping with his own blood. Once the fingers had wrapped around Hex's body the ground around them shook as more hands emerged from the ground; some were larger in size, and more grotesque in shape with long dark claws that stabbed into the young godling's body. As they pulled Hex down towards the ground Eranna noticed that he'd stopped struggling, or at least the hands had smothered his body to the point that she couldn't see him. Once the hands had sunk back into the ground the heavy pressure was lifted and Eranna felt small wet tears fall down her face. She looked to the two who'd been with her since they'd woke up together in Bygone's Forest for some type of direction, but the smile on Illiax's face coupled with the way Nek's entire body shook told her that for now she wouldn't get any help from the two. So she sat there crying silently to hereself while she questioned why everyone around her seemed to have ignored Hex's last cries for help. Really it didn't matter anymore, at least that what the young godling tried to tell herself, he was lost to The One Below now. 'None of the gods have ever returned from there, Hex won't be any different.'