Greymont gauged Craig's incoming attack and dodged to the side at the last moment, his fur grazing the tip of the energy blade. Immediately afterward, he wrapped one of his tails around Craig's body, but as soon as he did, Craig reacted with an attack aimed for that very tail; He stabbed downward.
Shew!
Greymont quickly removed his tail around Craig's body. His intention had been to toss Craig toward a hard sturdy tree, however, if he had chosen to attempt the throw, his tail would have been stabbed before he could perform it.
After removing his tail he jumped backward, intending to talk some sense into Craig's head. "Snap out of it human. You--" He was unable to finish his sentence as Craig was rushing toward him with another attack. He used to the same attack he had used the first time, which Greymont intended to dodge the same way.
However, just as Greymont dodged, the dagger suddenly extended to twice its length.
Shit!
Greymont cursed inwardly at how cunning Craig's strategy was.
Slice!
A long but shallow cut was left on the side of Greymont's body. He had still jumped some distance away though, saving himself from a deeper cut. He looked at Craig with a pensive gaze. "It seems I can't be careless with you. I know you've somehow been possessed and this isn't you, but maybe only death can snap you out of it." Greymont muttered, mostly to himself. A deep red aura suddenly gushed out from his body, giving him the look of a wolf on fire.
This was a new ability he learned when he evolved to his new form. Besides 'Terror' Which would activate when he used his berserk, he learned this one called 'Bloodspeed'. Instead of using Berserk he decided to experiment with bloodspeed on Craig. What better opponent could he use to test an ability that increased his speed and reflexes than Craig in this possessed state?
Whoosh!
He dashed to the side of Craig with the intention of moving past him and attacking him from behind. However... He ended up underestimating his own speed and was thrown off balance when he tried to change direction. Thus, he ended up tumbling and rolling some distance away from Craig.
Cough! Cough!
He coughed as dust assailed his nostrils. "Such unbelievable speed. I need to adjust my movements and power output." He muttered to himself.
Amongst the trees some distance away, Maeli was attentively looking at the battle between the two. She hadn't run too far away, after all she couldn't just abandon Craig. She only ran and hid because she expected something bad was about to happen and left Greymont to handle it. A big bad wolf like him could certainly handle one human Craig.
Yet, he had just tripped and tumbled over from his own actions. Although the situation was Serious, Maeli couldn't help but cover her mouth to stifle her laughter. However, her expression quickly returned to seriousness. This was no time to joke around.
Craig turned around and looked at Greymont who was looking back at him. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. With the now lengthened dagger, he lunged toward Greymont. Greymont didn't wait for him to approach this time and also dashed toward him.
Bang!
Dagger and claw collided and a series of consecutive collisions followed as the two of them entangled in a continuous assault. Greymont attacked relentlessly with his sharp claws. With his bloodspeed activated, his speed and reflexes had practically surpassed Craig by a tiny margin.
Craig brandished his long energy dagger and attacked and defended against Greymont's heavy attacks. Eventually he was suppressed into only defending, unable to find any opening to attack.
Greymont didn't want to cause Craig any harm, but he had no other way to return him to his senses. He suddenly launched a full power swipe with all four tails after finding an opening in Craig's defence.
Bang!
Craig tried to block the attack but the sheer power of the impact sent him flying into the air before collapsing onto the ground on his back. The dagger, along with the dark energy around his arm had vanished as if they had been knocked clean out of him. The marks that covered his arm also slowly vanished as if they had never been there. He once again lay motionless on the ground.
Greymont looked at the unmoving Craig with a pondering gaze. Whilst they were fighting, he suddenly felt as if Craig was loosing power. He grew weaker and his speed and reflexes also decreased. The only reason he was able to launch that surprise attack was due to these factors. If Craig's strength and speed hadn't decreased, he would have been able to easily dodge that attack.
Another thing was that he could have sworn he saw Craig's dark eyes flicker back to white for a moment. It was an almost imperceptible flicker but he had caught on to it. Seeing the Nefarious aura disappear, he hoped that Craig was alright for he didn't hold back at all on that last attack.
***
Within the Divine Lotus,
Craig had been in a mental battle against a constant stream of bloody images. He was in an abyss that felt like the incarnation of the underworld itself. As one wicked event after another flashed through his mind he felt a deep sense of despair. He was drowning.
Eventually, he found himself falling into an infinite hole that had thousands of arms flailing around from the walls. In Fact the walls themselves were made of the unrecognisable bodies of all kinds of living things... well, dead things. He continued to fall like this as if there would never be an end to it. The dark, cold embrace of despair was slowly eroding his consciousness.
An unknown amount of time had passed. Suddenly, he felt as if the world had vibrated from a massive shock wave or earthquake. The horrifying wall of bodies and arms instantly shattered and the infinite bottom of the hole seemed to suck him downward at ultra speed.
Snap.
He woke up, still standing a short distance ahead of Avanelle. He looked around as he caught back his clarity of mind, his eyes falling on Avanelle who was lying on the ground, unconscious. Could she even fall unconscious?
Craig rushed over to her side and knelt beside her. He looked upon how peaceful and tranquil her face was at the moment. At her side, her corrupted right arm also caught his attention. He sighed, feeling pity at how such an innocent and charming woman was fated to have such an unfortunate existence. The experience he just went through flashed through his mind making him wonder what it was like in Avanelle's shoes, being the one who was directly infected by the corruption.
He fully understood that now they were connected as one, he would constantly be affected by her. He also understood that the ship had already left port and sailed. The Divine Lotus had already been corrupted and he was now the captain of the ship. There was nothing but rough and stormy seas ahead.
He lifted Avanelle into his lap and gently shook her, as he tapped the side of her face. "Hey. Wake up." He called out in a slightly raised voice.
She didn't respond, remaining motionless in his arms. He shook her some more and tapped her face a bit harder this time.
Her eyelids trembled and she let out a soft moan as her eyes slowly opened. A blurred figure appeared in her vision and as soon as it cleared she saw someone she had never expected to see.
A handsome looking Argonian man with a facial structure quite similar to Craig. The only differences being his skin colour, eyes and nose. His long black hair fell on his shoulders adding a gentle charm to his face.
"Lodiass?!" Avanelle cried out as she pushed herself up wrapped her arms around Craig. She embraced him with a passion that was bone deep and filled with love.
Craig was bewildered and at the same time, also bewildered by how soft and comforting her chest cushions felt. In his double bewildered state he asked, "Who's Lodiass?" Feeling lost.
With her head on Craig's shoulder, Avanelle's expression suddenly turned odd as she quickly pulled herself away from him in shock. Her gaze moved about as she parted her lips, feeling confused about what to say. Just now, she had been muddled and was hallucinating about someone from her past. "Sorry, I was a bit out of it just now." She explained as clarity returned to her eyes.
Craig smiled. "Lodiass must've been very important to you based on that reaction." He surmised.
Avanelle smiled with her head slightly bowed, her cheeks turning a bit red. "He was." She affirmed. "He was the one who saved my life when no one else could. You could say he's also the reason I'm still alive."
Craig mused momentarily before asking, "Was he the one who gave you the rainbow medicine?" Based on her words, he felt that was most likely the case. She had mentioned how she had been saved by someone when she was afflicted with Dragon Fever. Craig had deduced that she was the Princess in the story of dragon fever.
She nodded. "Yes, it was him. His name was Lodiass Archknight. He was a banished Prince from another Argonian empire, who lived the life of an adventurer." Her face gleamed with emotion as she spoke about him. "He also... was the love of my life." Her bright expression dimmed as she reached this point. "Sometimes, the world is unfair and love is just not meant to be." She sighed.
Craig could feel the depth of the sadness coming from her. Maybe it was because they were connected but it was very easy to read her emotions. He understood, or in this case, felt how deep her love was and also felt how deeply saddened she was.
She held her corrupted arm and looked up at Craig, changing the topic. "I'm sorry about this. I didn't intend to loose control of myself like that. I hope you didn't suffer too much because of me."
Craig's eyes fell onto the her corrupted arm as he shook his head. "I already told you there's nothing to apologise for. If I wasn't saved by you I'd be dead. It's fate that brought us together isn't it? It's not like you had much of a choice."
Avanelle smiled a smile of gratitude at how easy Craig was taking everything. Her smile dimmed as she said, "I did have another choice. The choice to become the core of a spirit lake." She looked away at the infinite expanse of flowers and began explaining. "In order for a spirit lake to form, a Divine Lotus must become its core. However by doing so the soul of the Divine Lotus will loose all awareness of consciousness and simply become pure energy."
She smiled bitterly. "After living for so long I still don't want to die. Maybe it's because I never got revenge for my death. Or maybe I just enjoy living too much to let go." She looked at Craig again. "If I hadn't chosen you I would have transformed that pond into a Spirit Lake. Thus I would have died in the true sense of the word."
Craig found this to be quite interesting, and sad. A Divine Lotus could either find a predestined individual and continue to live on, eventually dying with them, or become a Spirit Lake and directly die in one sense of the word. Could fate be any more cruel than this?
"Of course, I had another reason why I chose not to sacrifice myself." She raised her arm. "It's because, if I chose to become the core of the Spirit Lake, I would only be bringing more misfortune to the world." She exclaimed.
More misfortune? Craig didn't understand her meaning. "What do you mean by that?"
She looked at him. "You were curious about Transcendents weren't you? Well let me explain to you where they come from." She paused for a moment. "If a spirit lake is formed by a Corrupted Divine Lotus, it is Known as a Cursed lake. Cursed Lakes contain corrupted water that when drank by animals will cause some of them to evolve. Thus, Transcendents are then born into the world."
Craig was dumbfounded. So this was the origin of Transcendents? They were essentially born from... Corruption? No wonder Rakan was the way he was. That would truly make Greymont quite special wouldn't it?
A series of realisations hit Craig simultaneously.
Avanelle gave him a stern look. "Remember that I told you to be careful of them? It's because they are all born from corruption and deep down they will always be corrupt."