Tainted Balance

A Distorted Reflection

Jordan gazed up at the sky. While he couldn't see the color of the sky very well (due to the Taint's influence), the sun's high position in the sky was clear enough. It was at least noon. He grinned. Perfect. He slowly made his way closer to the town, feeling a tingling sensation in his hands. They were glowing with a bright purple, like that of the Taint. He raised a hand and a small ball of light, no bigger than a piece of crumpled paper, popped into existence. Curious, Jordan aimed his hand at a tree s few feet away from him. He
was pushed back a bit by the force of the ball launching from his hand. The ball hit the tree in the center of its trunk and it was splattered with Taint. The Taint quickly began to spread, covering a good chunk of the wood and leaves in a matter of seconds. Jordan grinned and raised both his hands, watching as two more balls formed in each palm.

"Oh this will be /very/ useful.."

He took a final glance at the now Tainted tree and continued his walk to town. On his way, he passed a decently sized pond and stopped and knelt down next to it.

"I wonder if I can infect the water as...well?" He began to trail off as he saw his reflection in the water. He hadn't noticed it before but half of his face had been covered in Taint, making him look like one of those Tainted animals. It crept down his neck and into his shirt. It looked like it was beginning to get into his hair as well, creating purple streaks in his once fully black hair. He raised a hand and brushed it against the Tainted side of his face, jumping back as he saw that his hand was covered in Taint as well. A moment of clarity, free from the Taint's and voices influence hit him like a truck, making him gasp and back away from his reflection like it would attack him.

"Wh..what /happened/ me?! This.. This isn't right! Why do I look like..like /this?!/" He grabbed at the Tainted streaks of hair tugging on them roughly. He scratched at the Taint on his skin like a madman, desperate to get it off of him. It didn't work. It just made the Taint seem to creep faster up his arm and down his neck. His vision flickered between clear and purple, making him feel sick and dizzy.

"Gotta get it off.. Gotta get it OFF!" He screeched to himself, diving into the pond in an attempt to wash the Taint off. He popped back up above the water with a pathetic look of despair on his face. The once clear water had quickly begun to turn purple. Still he tried to claw the Taint off of his skin only to freeze and hold his head in pain as the voices came back, full force, screaming at him.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'

'STOP YOU IDIOT!'

'YOURE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE FOR YOURSELF!'

He dragged himself out of the pond and curled up into a ball, in an attempt to block out the screeching voices.

'Jordan.. My dear follower..'

His head snapped up. "I-Ianite..?"

'Who else would it be?'

"Ianite, please! You.. You have to help me! I don't want /this!/" he pointed to his Tainted skin.

Ianite's voice chuckled. 'But Jordan, don't you remember what you said earlier? I'm your goddess, I know what's best for you.'

"B-but.."

'Jordan, I would /never/ do this to you without good reason, you know this.'

"I do.. I do but.."

Ianite's voice turned harsh and cold. 'But what Jordan? You were so eager to serve me mere minuets ago. Why has that changed? Am I not /good/ enough now?'

"N-no! You're wonderful! It's just.. I feel like.. I shouldn't be doing this.." A steady stream of purple began to flow into his vision once again, his logical thinking being shoved into the back of his mind and locked away by the voices.

'Shouldn't be doing what Jordan?'

"I shouldn't.. I shouldn't.." The purple had taken over his vision once more and he grinned. "I shouldn't be just standing around. I have to get to the town."

Ianite hummed approvingly. 'Glad to see you've come to your senses. If that is all then, I shall take my leave. Good luck, dear follower.'

Jordan nodded and stood up, feeling drops of water slowly begin to dry and drop off of him. He looked towards the town which was very close now. He could get there in around ten minuets is he ran.. He took one last look into the pond. His reflection made him feel disgusted and so he raised a hand, feeling the familiar tingling sensation in his pal before he was shoved forwards a second later. The pond was nothing more than a hole now, the Tainted water had been splashed everywhere, beginning to corrupt everything it touched. He huffed and started to run towards the town. He couldn't afford to fail Ianite. Or the Taint.

Meanwhile, the voices whispered among themselves.

'That was too close..'

'Far too close.'

'He is under our control, but for how long?'

'As long as we continue to use his loyalty to Ianite against him we should be fine.'

'If you say so..'

((Done! Sorry I didn't upload this yesterday. I just couldn't bring myself to write it out :,D Now for a quick announcement. I've figured out a semi-concrete update schedule for this story. I'll upload a chapter on almost every weekday except for Friday's. Saturday and Sunday will maybe get a teaser chapter out. I'm still thinking about that. Announcement over! And I promise that Jordan's gonna be in the town next chapter. I just wanted to have a bit of internal conflict this chapter :3 But yeah! I hope you all have enjoyed and I will see all you people in the next chapter! Later!))