"Corruption energy?" Craig repeated rhetorically. His expression turning grave.
Wasn't that the exact thing She had warned him about when they first met? It was also the very thing Setra had been most concerned about. He couldn't have already affected the Divine Lotus right? No that wasn't it. Avanelle just said that she had kept it from him, meaning that she was already like this to begin with.
In that case, could this have been the nefarious aura picked up by Setra and the spirits? Craig's forehead creased in thought.
"Yes. Like I told you when we first met, it is easy for the Divine Lotus to become corrupted with darkness." She sighed, with an expression of self blame. "As the soul of the Divine Lotus I should have been pure and sacred. Unfortunately, I couldn't let go of the past for a very long time. I tried my best to practice mindfulness and meditate to achieve the State Of Purity after learning about it. Regrettably, I always had the notion to take revenge on those who had wronged me and so I couldn't let it go."
"I thought that with only just that one flaw, things would be fine, however I was mistaken. Like a festering wound my desire for revenge only continued to increase the more I thought about it. Every time I remembered what they had done to me I would get furious and cry out in indignation." She clenched her fist and grimaced as she said this. "Then one day, the first mark appeared. It was just a tiny black dot that was barely noticeable. I had noticed it, but I paid it not mind. Until, more began appearing like some kind of rash. And when there was a certain amount, I felt it. An aura of darkness, coming from the back off my hand."
Craig listened attentively without interrupting her.
"In the following cycles it grew more and more distinct and spread further and further. It was slow, but it was spreading nonetheless. I knew it was because of my desire for revenge but even then I still couldn't let it go. It was," She paused and locked sights with Craig, "And still is buried deep within me, this desire. If I said I didn't want revenge I would only be lying to myself. Even after over five thousand cycles of existence I still feel hatred towards them. And so, the corruption continues to spread." She stopped speaking at that point.
Craig had a deep understanding toward that sort of thing. The perceived inability to let go of trauma or being wronged was part of any intelligent creature's programming. Different people handled their emotions in different ways based on the severity of the impact.
There was a lot more to the story than just the Avanelle wanting revenge. The circumstances of how everything occurred had a big part to play in how deeply impacted she felt. Betrayal wasn't an easy thing to overcome especially when it was done by people you trusted.
"I'm sorry about what happened to you." Craig said empathetically.
Avanelle shook her head dismissively. "Don't be. What happened doesn't have anything to do with you. Why should you apologise for it." She sighed softly, "I do understand your intention, but it shouldn't be you to apologise to me. In fact, there shouldn't even be an apology."
Her expression darkened, " There is only one outcome and that outcome should have been my revenge." Her tone changed slightly as she seemed to be overtaken by emotion. "A debt of blood should be paid in blood." Her eyes narrowed, as her pupils suddenly flickered between pitch dark and normal, causing her to grab her head in agony.
At the same time Craig felt a sudden urge of coldness and ruthlessness come over him. His expression turned cold and dark. Images of random people he'd never seen before flashed through his mind. Blood splattered all over his face and body as he took their lives one after another. He saw himself standing on a mountain of corpses, with blood dripping from a long black sword in his hand.
He struggled to resist against those thoughts, attempting to clear his mind. He realised that something had gone wrong with Avanelle. His driving thought was to achieve the State Of Purity once more. Unfortunately no matter how hard he tried, it didn't work. He tried his best to clear his mind and figure out what suddenly went wrong.
A tingling sensation suddenly came from his right hand and looking down, he noticed a series of black tattoo-like marks creeping up his arm. His expression turned grave, 'This isn't good.' He thought nervously.
***
Meanwhile on the outside,
Maeli had stood up after calming herself down. She kept her gaze locked onto Greymont who was also staring right back at her. She wondered, whether he was still in control of himself or not.
Greymont who had just finished evolving into a new form had his gaze locked onto Maeli. For a moment he had lost his sense of self as his evolution stabilised. His eyes turning red was a result of the new ability he had learned. It had automatically activated during the process nearly sending him into a frenzy. It was an upgraded version to his berserk state called 'Terror.'
With his mind returning to normal he finally regained his sense of clarity. His gaze shifted from Maeli as he turned his head to study the changes to his body. 'I... evolved?' He thought dumbfoundedly, wondering how did that happen. As far as he knew, his source energy was far from sufficient for his next evolution.
Nevertheless, he had truly evolved, there was no mistake about it. He studied his body for a moment and even spun around a few times as he looked at his four tails.
Maeli who was just looking at Greymont apprehensively felt puzzled as he suddenly stated chasing his tail... tails. Wasn't he an alpha wolf that was supposed to be badass? He did truly look ridiculous doing such a thing.
Of course, he wasn't doing it for the fun of it, he really was only trying to look at them. Shortly after, he came to a stop and looked at Maeli. He could see the apprehension in her eyes as she looked at him. Anyone would be scared after witnessing such a transformation. "I scared you for a moment there huh?" He asked in his usual calm voice. "Don't worry I'm still myself." He promised.
Maeli felt relieved upon hearing him speak. She eased from her tensed state and started walking closer to him and Craig. As she drew near she asked, "What just happened? How did you... become like that?"
Greymont shook his head. "I don't know how it happened, but I seem to have evolved. I really... Don't have any explanation for it." He said cluelessly.
"So this is what Rakan had been seeking?" She asked.
Greymont nodded. "With every evolution comes greater power. I don't know Rakan's goal but he certainly is seeking greater power for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with with the families he mentioned." He surmised.
Maeli also agreed that there must be some major reason for why Rakan was so power hungry. However this wasn't of critical importance at the the moment. Casting thoughts of Rakan away, she looked at Craig who had been lying motionless for a while now. She had been thinking about him all along, wondering if she he was still alive. Her expression dimmed considerably as she focused on him. "He hasn't moved for some time now. Do you think that he's..." She didn't finish, not wanting to suggest the worst.
Greymont was also looking at Craig. He had activated his focused sight as Maeli was speaking. His eyes glowed dimly as he looked at Craig's body. Under his focused vision Craig's body turned transparent, revealing a bright glowing ball of light in his chest. All the threads of energy that were scattered throughout his body were gone.
"Hmmm." Greymont hummed in thought. "His strange energy is still present. I can't say for certain if he's alive since source energy still remains after death. Of course that depends on the whether what he has within him is source energy or that spirit medicine he mentioned. The good thing is that there's no dissipation happening which usually occurs to source energy after death." He voiced his full analysis in a way that would give Maeli hope.
If it was a regular person or animal he'd be able to pick up their life aura, however Craig's entire magnetic field was concealed. In Greymont's opinion he was most likely dead.
Maeli could hear the scepticism in Greymont's voice as he said this. She had already felt a wave of sadness earlier when Craig had first stopped moving. Now that he hadn't moved for so long she felt a deeper certainty that he might be dead. She felt a bitter sensation in her heart even stronger than the time he had fallen into the canyon. No matter how she tried to deny it to herself, she knew that deep down she had come to like him.
She also knew that the success of this mission was dependent on him. If he were to die then it was the same as A'ina dying. She definitely didn't want A'ina to die and she didn't want him to die either. She wanted them both to remain alive.
She closed the final bit of distance between them and was about to kneel beside him to try and verify if he was truly dead. If he had truly died then she would have no choice but to accept the fate of loosing two people she cared about.
As she was about to lower herself to her knees, Craig's body suddenly spasmed causing her to jolt back up in surprise. A mix of hope and worry was instantly painted on her face.
Craig's body trembled as a series of blisters appeared all over his right arm. The blisters began sizzling as if acid had been poured onto his arm, then black marks appeared in place of the blisters, covering Craig's entire arm like sinister tattoos. After the black markings solidified, a blackish transparent aura seeped out of them, covering Craig's entire right arm.
Looking at Craig's arm and sensing the Nefarious aura coming from him, Maeli withdrew Step by step with a pensive gaze. "What now!?" She yelled softly.
Greymont also took a few steps back. "This aura... Is certainly nothing good." He muttered in a serious tone.
Suddenly, Craig's eyes snapped open, and as they did the whites of his eyes slowly turned pitch dark. His body then slowly floated up into standing position, as if someone had lifted a lying statue. He then woodenly turned his head to the look at Greymont and Maeli. "A debt of blood must be paid in blood." After saying these words his hand twitched and the dagger that had fallen from his hand before trembled and shot into his hand.
"Craig! What are you doing?" Maeli yelled trying to get his attention. "What is going on with you. Don't you recognise your friends?"
"This isn't Craig." Greymont Interjected, looking at her. His eyes had ready spoken even before his mouth when he yelled, "Run!"
Maeli shivered and hesitated briefly before dashing off into the distance.
Craig's eyes locked onto her and he bent his knees into a lunging position, lunging himself toward her with a burst of force from underneath his feet.
Cling!
Greymont appeared before him and intercepted his strike with his teeth. The knife instantly cracked, before crumbling into nothing underneath Greymont's terrifying bite.
Whoosh!
Craig jumped backward and looked at the handle of the knife in his hand. Then he threw it away. Following this he extended his right arm and used the dark energy around it to form an energy dagger identical to the one before.
Greymont narrowed his eyes as he studied Craig's actions. 'This human.' He thought. 'What kind of power is he using.'
Craig positioned himself into another lunging pose with his sights locked onto Greymont. His expression remained plain and indifferent with intense hatred in his eyes. "Please die for me." He stated before launching himself forward.