The Wordless Mage
Chapter 48: Corruption of The Mind

Chapter 48: Corruption of The Mind

"What are you talking about?"

Liora floated forward, dragging Rowan along with her against his will.

The demon’s contempt was contained within its chest, allowing the two to stand before him despite the black trembling at the boundless fury aching in its heart.

Something about it was different, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

"Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten--oh, time must’ve flown differently. Yes, let me remind you that you were thrown into the Rowan’s repressed mindscape. It should’ve been as inescapable as your memories as a toddler, yet here you stand, a pestilence as always."

Rowan tilted his head, symbolling his confusion, but Liora ignored him to keep her attention on the great demon floating above her.

"Well, it seems it wasn’t as hard to get out of as you thought." She shrugged, snickering with exaggerated sarcasm. "Although, what’s a challenge to a demon such as you? Perhaps I’m just forgetting your own incompetence, and it really might just be as hard for you as you claim it was."

Rowan looked at her with equally agitated and perplexed, his eyes tracing hers for any signs of emotion.

She was gleefully unapologetic, and she didn’t care to explain herself.

Liora’s tail beneath her waved violently in the black ambiance, feeling as if the earth below let go of her like a carpet being pulled on someone.

It was clear where it’d come from, the demon’s black form staggering into an unstable, volatile mess of black tendrils that reached out to pull on the empty null.

It was changing the very confines of the realm that all three of them resided in, the space above flickering in and out like the static of TV.

"You dare to talk down on me, lowly human? You forget that I control both mind and body of the brat to your right, and if I so much as wished it, I could send you back where you came from!"

The volume of its voice sent harrowing striations through the null, pushing back against Liora’s flight. She covered her face with her hands, trying desperately to fight back against the force, but failed.

Flying back, she entered a violent spin, her head whirling so fast that the two individuals ahead of her looked like singular streaks.

"Demon, please, don’t do anything to her!" Rowan stood unbothered by the demon’s attack, waving his hand in front of her.

His skin turned blush from the warmth of the blood rushing through his veins, his hastened heartbeat almost hiding the panic of his breaths. He was putting up a front with clenched fists, but it seemed to do a trick.

At Rowan’s own command, the striations burst and sizzled out from existence, being replaced by a light gust that carefully lifted Liora back forward to where she’d last stood.

"What..."

Liora’s face was marked only by confusion, but once she’d looked up at Rowan--now glowing with a radiant white--her mouth lifted to form into a smile.

"Hm, so you’ve finally begun to understand your own strength," the demon mused, raising one leg over the other, "but of little consequence."

Rowan looked back at Liora for one moment, readying himself at the demon’s sudden movements.

It stretched its hand out, black overlapping with the void to twist space in ways inconceivable to the mind.

Leaping into separate strips, it crashed into Rowan’s chest, discoloring his own white aura while clawing up from the point of contact.

"Rowan!"

"Corruption of the mind, something I specialize in. I doubt you could resist its effects, talentless as you are."

Rowan couldn’t bother to listen to the demon’s smiling chimes, his mind forced to concentrate at the dark eating away at his thoughts.

Liora rushed him into her arms, sweat trailing her cheek as she pressed her hand into his chest, trying but failing to find the aether plaguing his skin.

"Don’t try it, child. You wouldn’t be able to rid him of my curse, not even in your original body." The demon raised its hand forward, a single finger stretched this time. "Now, be a good girl and resign to your fate."

"Wh-why..." Rowan’s groan was dipped in pain, his neck straining to support the upwards tilt of his head. "Why... take my body... why... infect my mind... why... torture me so..."

The demon was taken aback at his words, almost turning to itself to look for a response. But no, its heart skipped a beat at the displeasure gripping Rowan’s throat, abrading his voice, and punching at his wounds.

It enjoyed this, and it wished for more.

"I don’t know. I suppose because this is entertaining. To be honest, I don’t have any real reason to be doing any of this, it just gets annoying being sealed for so long."

Its honesty was an even greater dark to Rowan’s already-infected mind. He felt his chest tighten, begging for more action in his limbs. He couldn’t speak through the black shroom engulfing his vision, and even if he could, there would only be curses bursting forth from his mouth.

"Rowan...?"

Liora’s arms withdrew from Rowan, forced by the new surge of aura exiting from his pores.

This time, it was different. He didn’t have nearly the same affectionate face that he’d always held.

No, it was hatred. And not the kind that someone would feel for the murderer of a loved one.

It was undirected, without focus. Not only in its intent, but in its action.

The space around began to twist, shuddering wildly at each micro-movement of the dark aether releasing from him. Its reach eventually came to Liora, a stray tendril smacking into her stomach to send her flying away uncontrollably.

She hadn’t felt physical pain due to the nature of her current body, but still, the reverberations of the soul struck her heart.

"Rowan... what’s happening?"

The words were lost to Rowan, the black engulfing his ears as well. After all, what good would hatred be if it weren’t directed towards yourself as well?

"I’ll fucking kill you."

He didn’t scream, he didn’t even yell. It was a command, and a dominating one.

"Ah, so you do have it in you. Well, come on, then! Show me to what extremes you’ll move for your own selfish desire, as all other humans hide!"

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