Nyne was in a fight with a tree monster. A tree monster that was Madrea. The sorcerer dashed towards the creature and with his sword, he slashed the many branches that stretched out to him. Madrea did not allow the sorcerer get too close to her. A swipe from a long and hard branch of tree, that stretched several inches, came rushing at Nyne, hard and fast, to get him at the neck; the young man ducked and rolled forwards on the ground. With this singular motion, he succeeded in putting the possessed the tree creature in range of his intended assault.
In one breath, he muttered the name of his technique. "Blade of the wild," he said.
It was the same technique he used to take the limbs of the ograkks back at Payre. A slash of black Aer travelled at an immense speed to reach the tree monster. Nyne released this blackened aura after he had enchanted his sword.
The released aura cut through many branches of the tree monster, leaving it without any form of defense. The damage from the black aura of Aer slowed down Madrea's regeneration.
Though short-lived, Nyne used this opportunity to its fullest. Leaping into the air, he jumped down at the monster. With his sword strongly held in his hands, he slashed down at the tree and cut it in two left and right halves. Nyne cut all the way down to the roots. Right in the innards of the monster, visible but very tiny fiery particles floated around into the open. Nyne squatted to catch his breath. After so many clashes he succeeded in defeating the monster but his battle with the spirit of Madrea was not yet over.
The tiny fiery particles were innumerable and carried by the cold winds of the season, they swerved toward Nyne. The young sorcerer was powerless as he inhaled them and without any form of struggle. Nyne went raving mad. Falling to the ground, his body squirmed around like an earthworm that had been salted.
Nyne's eyes opened to another world, one he was unfamiliar with. It was a forestry filled with very tall, thick-barked, sturdy trees. The tallest set of trees he had ever seen.
"What is this place?" Nyne muttered.
He could guess that he was trapped with Madrea's demesne. Madrea possessed his body and pulled his consciousness into her world. Nyne walked aimlessly around the forest before a presence appeared before him.
"Oi! Who are you?" he asked, ambling closer.
Acting on his instincts, Nyne tried to grab his sword. It was then he realized with certainty that he was no longer in the real world. The presence levitated and gave him no answers. Nyne asked again as he kept on walking closer and closer until he could behold the presence.
"I am Madrea," she finally spoke.
The voice was otherworldly soothing to any that heard it. The revelation of her name made Nyne take some steps back.
Madrea was a beautiful woman. Her hair, greener than the leaves during the season of rain and so long that it stretched down to her buttocks.
-
At the Labronkath. Reshi spoke with Makr and another Aepari of seemingly high rank.
"Nyne knows his way home," Makr argued.
"What if something has happened to him? I mean, you heard what his godmother said. It's possible that he is in danger," Reshi said, "I need you two to find him".
"Tch!" Makr revolted.
"Yes, master Reshi," the other Aepari answered on his knees.
"Show some respect to the master, Makr," this Aepari reprimanded. There was a sense of harshness to the tone of his voice.
"Yes, master Reshi," Makr answered likewise, on his knees.
"You set out at first light. Bring Nyne home," Reshi ordered.
The master greatly feared that Nyne was not prepared for the dangers that awaited him. A dark path awaited him and if he was going to tread that path, he needed to be prepared for such a journey.
As the sorcerers of the Labronkath thought to search for one of theirs, another party was already on the move doing the same. For unknown reasons, this group sought after Nyne.
"Scatter, my crows," a throaty voice commanded.
His thick coat crumbled into many crows that dispersed into the sky. This man was now without any clothes covering his upper body.
"We'll find him soon," he said to the three behind him. One of them was the sorcerer Nyne fought at Payre.
-
Madrea flew towards Nyne. Her soft hands rubbed against his chin. The human froze, not able to lift as much as a finger. Not that he was restrained by anything of sort. He was simply being careful. Madrea flew around him and evaluated him.
"You would make a nice vessel if you'd only stop struggling," she said.
"What do you want?" Nyne asked.
"I want nothing from you," she answered.
"And the villagers?"
Madrea laughed sinisterly for a moment.
"Oh! The villagers? Theirs is a different case, dear. I shall feed on their spirit energies until none of them are left,"
Nyne bared his teeth at her. "I can't allow you do that!"
"You do not get it. You have no choice in the matter. Hand over your body like a good little boy and we shall accomplish a whole lot."
"Take it if you can," Nyne dared.
Madrea laughed an evil laughter before flying back. With a stretch of her arms, the forest trees behind her bent forwards and launched themselves in that direction, moving towards the sorcerer.
"This is not real. It isn't real," Nyne breathed.
He kept on reiterating the sentence to himself. Nyne did not attempt to defend against the coming trees as they bashed at him. The force of which sent him flying into other trees behind him. In the real world, Nyne's body wriggled about. Then did he let out a cry of anguish with his hand holding his head.
Nyne got up in the subconscious realm and cleaned his mouth of blood. Madrea repeated the same assault over and over. Nyne's reaction, likewise, was the same over and over.
"Taking you over might be easier than I thought."
Madrea raised her hand into the air and clenched her fist. Giant trees began to shoot up from the ground in the path Nyne stood.
"Dainsleif!" Nyne yelled.
His cursed blade appeared in his hand that were held out in front of him. A subconscious likeness of Dainsleif.
Nyne cried out so loudly before stabbing Dainsleif into the ground with a mighty force that his palm hurt and bled. A rush of Aer seeped through his hands into the blade, and to the ground. The force of the magical energy released thereafter pushed Nyne away. Not just the wielder of Dainsleif was pushed away, every other things that existed in this world likewise.
A wave of magical energy swept everything in a circular manner such that only Dainsleif remained at the centre of it all, sturdy into the ground. What happened could be likened to a shockwave. This forest world was cleared out and now resembled an arid plain but with cut trunks of trees here and there.
"You vermin!" Madrea cursed, her green eyes glowing.
She flew straight for Nyne, who still struggled to get on his feet. Before the sorcerer could realise himself, Madrea locked her lips with his in a kiss. Nyne struggled to break free but to no avail. The glow in Madrea's eyes started to dim with her eyes darkening. Nyne's eyes started to glow little by little, both in this world and in the real one. He was being taken over. All of Madrea's consciousness was being poured into Nyne and if nothing saved him at that moment, he would become one with the Madrea's spirit. Undoubtedly doing her bidding even though it was not what Nyne wanted.
Nyne's body, in the real world, stopped moving about and stiffened. It stayed motionless for a while before forcefully opening his eyes, now green in colour. Madrea beat him in a battle of mind and will.
Nyne had become her minion.
Madrea may have won for the moment, but that battle of mind and will was not over.
Within Nyne's subconscious, Madrea was cast into a world of black. She could see nothing here. It was absolute darkness but she had no worries as long as nothing tampered with the control she had over her new vessel. Madrea was going wreak havoc using Nyne's body. She began to see other possibilities.
Suddenly, from this empty black world, her name was called. A voice called out her name three times.
"Who is that?" she asked, certain she was the only one there.
A pair of red glowing eyes were cast upon her. She was a speckle when compared to the size of these eyes. They gave her a deathly glare.
"Wh...What is this dark aura?" she feared.
"Begone!" the voice commanded.
A gigantic mouth with sharp teeth opened up to swallow Madrea. The green-haired spirit departed from Nyne's body immediately. She was faced with a power that was too great for her. The power that lurked deep with Nyne's being.
"You're an accursed one!" Madrea cried out before leaving Nyne's body.
Nyne regained control minutes later with bouts of coughing following. He was back into his original body.
Now, he knew how to lift Madrea's curse.