Craig cried out in agony as he was was electrocuted by Maeli's spell. A short moment into the shock session he gritted his teeth and tried his best to hold back his scream.
Maeli was surprised by Craig's instant reaction. Was he not unconscious?
Greymont also reacted in a surprised manner.
The spell didn't last very long, subsiding only after about ten seconds. Craig bared through the ten seconds of torture with all his willpower. Luckily for him, Maeli's spell wasn't too powerful, making it bearable. He only screamed at the first due to the immediate surprise upon waking up.
The spell dissipated, leaving Craig breathing rapidly afterward. His gaze shifted and he noticed Maeli and Greymont looking at him. He propped himself up and stood up, faltering due to the numbness in his body. "I assume you guys were attempting to wake me?" He asked, feeling ridiculous. Why wouldn't he feel ridiculous. He had just woken up only to be zapped awake at the same time. Ridiculous isn't it?
"You were awake?" Maeli asked after realising that Craig was himself again. A hint joy finally appeared in her eyes. There was also traces of apprehension and fear in those same eyes.
"I just woke up." He said grimacing. As the numbness faded away, he felt aches coming from all over his body. His arms especially, were in the most pain. He wondered if it was due to his fight with Rakan. He didn't yet know that Greymont had just kicked his ass.
"Such perfect timing." Greymont interjected.
Craig glanced at him, intending to say something. Yet he paused, feeling that something was off about him. "Wait." He exclaimed in awe as he finally took notice of Greymont's massive size. "You're... Huge?!" He uttered dumbfoundedly. That wasn't all he was amazed about. "Four tails?! Horns!?" His awe transformed into confusion which slowly transformed into realisation as Avanelle's words flashed through his mind. "So that's what happened." He said in the end, not bothering to question how it occurred.
Avanelle did say Greymont would have to thank him. He now understood why that was the case. "I understand now." He muttered, Studying Greymont's new features. He didn't see any injuries meaning Greymont had recovered completely from his battered state.
"Hmmm." Greymont hummed. "I don't even know where to begin." He exclaimed in a heavy tone. "Should I ask how you know what happened to me, or should I ask what happened to you. Maybe I should ask what you are or maybe I should ask what kind of power is inside you?" He didn't hold anything back. For both himself and Maeli he wanted to solve the mystery that was Craig. He didn't like humans to begin with, only making an exception for Craig because of Maeli. He had indeed grown to like him, but he was now also deeply apprehensive of him.
Maeli also wanted to ask the very same questions. She went from thinking of Craig as a useless human, to actually ending up liking him to now also having a deep unsettling fear towards him. She needed answers if she were to keep travelling beside him. Her bit of cultivated trust in him was wavering.
The atmosphere turned awkward and cold. The night breeze seemed to suddenly grow a lot colder as it blew past. Everyone's gazes remained fixed on each other with a moment of silence.
Maeli narrowed her brows, waiting for Craig's response to either one of Greymont's questions. Or maybe a single explanation could explain everything, either way she wanted an answer. A true answer.
"You should know that you tried to kill her." Greymont stated gesturing toward Maeli with his head. "I'm assuming you didn't have presence of mind at the time which is probably fine. Now she needs an explanation... as do I."
Craig looked at Maeli in shock. He tried to kill her? When did that happen? Was it after he passed out? Then did that mean his body acted without the presence of his consciousness? But then, why he try to kill her? Nothing he thought of made any sense.
Unless, some other consciousness took over his body. He had already guessed a troubling possibility.
"Well? Human?!" Greymont's voice became aggressive upon seeing Craig standing blankly without responding.
Craig inhaled and exhaled a deep sigh. His gaze turned apologetic as he stared at Maeli. "I'm sorry. Please accept my apology. Not just for whatever just occurred but also... because I lied to you about something." He came to decision after some quick considerations. He decided to tell Maeli the truth. He realised his decision to keep it from her had put her in danger. At the time he didn't know anything about having corruption inside of him but he still felt a bit of guilt toward her.
As for Greymont, he was a Transcendent who didn't know that he also had corruption within him. He should be able to understand once he got the whole picture. Craig wasn't afraid of either of them turning against him. He felt it was highly unlikely at this point. He didn't know what he was thinking before by keeping it to himself. His just recent mindset was a bit clouded with too many out of sort emotions.
"Lied about what?" Maeli asked with a curious gaze.
Greymont also attentively prepared to listen.
"The spirit medicine." Craig replied, causing the two of them to frown. They didn't say anything and attentively awaited his explanation.
"I didn't receive any spirit medicine from the fairies. I received something entirely different from the lotus pond in your people's forbidden territory." His eyes were fixed on Maeli as he spoke. "A Divine Lotus. A Lotus even Rarer than a black lotus."
Maeli's expression turned to one of marvel. "Go on."
Craig continued. "This Divine Lotus is capable of curing dragon fever instantly so I didn't lie about being able to save the princess's life. It also has great power that is capable of doing many things that I'm still uncertain of. The reason I kept this to myself was exactly because of what it is capable of. If the wrong people found out... I'd be hunted down relentlessly."
Maeli listened attentively and then looked at Greymont then lowered her gaze as she mused. "Okay I understand that much. But You still have a lot to explanation." She stated.
Greymont nodded in agreement.
Craig continued to explain himself. "There are also some complications that are a bit complex to explain in detail. To summarise, the power is now inside my body and it has become one with me. Everything would be fine if that was all but nothing is ever simple, as I've come to recently learn. There is a problem with the Divine Lotus which is that it has two kinds of energy right now. One is divine energy which is the good kind capable of helping the world and the other is corruption energy which only seeks destruction. The corruption energy shouldn't have been there but unfortunately it is. I assume you get the picture of what I'm trying to say."
As promised, he didn't go into detail or even explain it exactly as it was. He felt that letting them know that there were two kinds of energy inside him was good enough for now.
Indeed it was. Both Maeli and Greymont now understood why he had suddenly gone berserk and what that Nefarious aura was. They also understood that Craig was essentially a ticking time bomb. One moment he would be normal and then another moment, based on a number of factors, he could snap and enter a killing spree. What a terrifying notion.
"You should have just said that from the start." Maeli said in complaint. "With a flaw like that inside of you, you need someone to depend on if things go wrong. Were you just going to keep it to yourself forever?" She reasoned aggressively.
She was right though. He had no way of telling what was going to happen and when. He was going to need people capable of bringing him back to his senses.
Craig smiled bitterly, unable to give a response. He was indeed going to keep it to himself, for as long as he could. Trust was never an easy thing to give away, especially to strangers.
Greymont agreed with Maeli. "She's right. You're going to need people to keep you in check. You didn't witness what you're capable of in that state. Even in this new form of mine you gave me a hard run and that probably wasn't the true extent of your power." He explained.
"I did what now?" Craig wondered what Greymont meant by 'giving him a hard run'. Had they fought? He did feel battered and bruised. He assumed it was the result from overdrawing his power in the fight with Rakan.
By the way, where was Rakan? He hadn't even noticed that Rakan was gone. As soon as he woke up they had jumped on his case taking up all his attention.
"When you attacked her I had to step in, you know. I have to say that power you happened upon is quite something. In your fight with Rakan you should have been using the Divine energy right?" He asked rhetorically. "Well in your fight against me you were definitely using the corruption. Your entire right arm was covered in black marks with a dark aura around it. That certainly looked like corruption to me. In my opinion, that corruption energy was a lot stronger than the Divine energy."
His entire right arm? Craig had just gotten verification to his guess. His consciousness was absent at the time leaving his body open to possession. It was Avanelle's right arm that was covered in corruption meaning that she had gained possession of his body when the corruption had acted up. He was truly in for quite an unpredictable journey.
"So what are you planning to do about this blessed curse of yours?" Maeli suddenly asked.
That was the million dollar question. In the wrong hands a power like that could spell endless trouble. What would Craig be doing with it?
"I don't plan to do anything bad if that's what you're asking." Craig replied. "That said, I don't know what my future holds for the time being. For now I intend to use it to save your princess's life. Once that is done I'm going to have to sit and figure out my next step."
Of course Craig knew what his next step was. He was going to seek out all information he could find about Transcendents. That said, he didn't know exactly where to begin as yet.
"Alright then. We should first save Milady's life. Whatever you intend to do afterward is up to you."
"By the way, You said that you knew what happened to me didn't you?" Greymont asked curiously.
Craig looked at him and nodded. "I ended up overloading my body with Divine energy and had no choice but to transfer it over to you or else I would have exploded and died. It seems it was enough to push you toward evolving."
That wasn't exactly what happened but, close enough. Since he hadn't mentioned Avanelle, he could only claim the credit for the time being.
"Hmmm." Greymont hummed. "How did you know to do something like that?"
"That's a long story." Craig replied. "I'll explain everything to you when I can."
"Do you know how much pain you put me through." Greymont said in a cold tone. "That said, I guess I should thank you for the gift."
Avanelle's words came to pass exactly like she said.
Craig nodded with a smile. "You're welcome."
"I suppose we've rested enough." Greymont said suggestively. "Rakan left with his tail between his legs. There's nothing else to do here."
Craig surmised that Rakan left due to Greymont's transformation. He had no idea that he had left even before that, with the assumption that Greymont was someone he couldn't afford to provoke.
"The horses were scared away when all this was started." Maeli said to Craig.
Craig looked around and not a horse could be seen. He placed his hand to his lips and whistled.
Whiiiiii!
Not long after, the sound of galloping was heard approaching. Such amazing horses they were.