Tainted Balance

Conditioning a Follower

((This chapter is so bad I'm sorry

Jordan had fled, leaving the ruined and Tainted town behind. He had gone deep into a forest that had managed to stay uninfected from Taint. He laid, panting against a tree and gripping his head in his free hand tightly. He slumped against the tree and sunk slowly to the ground, shivering slightly.

'I.. I nearly hurt them.. I nearly hurt my /friends!/' He thought to himself. He winced as the voices quickly turned from praise about destroying the town to angry shouts about Jordan being weak.

'Why didn't you take care of them?!'

'You could have killed them so EASILY!'

'You are far too WEAK to serve Ianite well!'

They hurled insults at him in their suddenly harsh and borderline painful voices. And they only grew in volume. Jordan whimpered quietly and held his hands over his ears tightly, attempting to block the voices out.

"Shut up.. Shut up.. Shut up!" He growled out, feeling his nails begin to dig into the skin on the sides of his head. Then, a sudden silence. No voices, no harsh insults; only the sound of his slightly panicked breathing and the noises of the forest to fill the silence.

'Jordan.' The familiar voice of Ianite called out, making Jordan flinch slightly. She would be upset with him most likely.

"I-Ianite.."

'Why didn't you kill them Jordan? You could have gotten rid of them so easily.'

"I-I know but..they're my /friends/ M'Lady! I.. I could never hurt them."

A sharp stab of pain in his head made Jordan wince and hiss in pain.

'You have no friends now, dear follower. You are on a /mission/ and they could potentially ruin it for you! You do /not/ want to disappoint me, Jordan.'

He narrowed his eyes at the ground, clenching his hands into fists tightly. He adored his Lady, of course but she acted like his friends were nothing! Even Tom..

'Your 'friends' are nothing but detriments to you now, dear follower. Especially that blue haired one; Tom. He will drag you down along side him. Is that what you want?'

This was the final straw. He openly glared and quickly stood up, digging his nails into his fists.

"Okay thats enough! Ianite I respect you completely but why the /hell/ do you think I'd be okay with you insulting my friends?! Tucker and Sonja are two of the nicest people I've ever met; Wag is a very good friend to me and Tom..well.."

He faltered, worried about the consequences of admitting his slight crush on Tom. He couldn't worry for long before another sharp pang of pain caused him to press his hands against his temples in a vain attempt to stop the pain.

'I know. You /love/ him. But that shall be remedied soon. Soon enough, you won't even remember you're friends names.'

He shook his head, blinking and seeing his vision clear ever so slightly.

"No.. I won't hurt him. I won't hurt /them/! And you can't make me!" He shouted, before collapsing onto his knees as seemingly endless waves of pain crashed against his mind. It grew worse with each passing second; it felt like someone was driving a spike through his skull and it was /unbearable./

'BE QUIET! I am /severely/ disappointed in you Jordan. I have done so much for you and this is how you act towards me?'

'I bless you with the Taint;' Jordan bites his lip to muffle his whimpers as the pain grows worse.

'I grant you powers to assist you on the mission that /I/ gave to you!' Tears begin to form in Jordan's eyes as the constant pounding against his skull gets even more intense.

'I sent voices to you, to guide you on your mission and assist you!' He tastes blood as he bites through the skin on his lip.

'And yet, you treat me like THIS!' Jordan cries out, curling up into a ball and trembling. The pain was excruciating and Ianite's voice had become distorted and screechy, echoing in Jordan's ears painfully.

'I have given you so much and you throw it all back in my /FACE/ for what?! An annoying fox, a wizard, a blood mage and a half alive zombie?! You choose /THEM/ over your /GODESS?!/'

The tears spilled over and Jordan shook, shaking his head frantically.

"Stop! Please make it stop! It hurts so much! I'm sorry just please make it STOP!"

And it did. Jordan's world seemingly froze as the pain vanished completely, leaving him trembling and cradling his head as tears streaked down his face. He panted, curling up into a smaller ball, attempting to hide himself away from everything and anything.

'Hmph. Pathetic. Perhaps I was wrong in choosing you. Maybe you aren't cut out to be my follower after all. Or is it that I've been to lenient with you? Hm. Stand up, Jordan or I'll make what just happened seem like a prick to your finger in comparison.'

He nodded weakly and shakily stood up, using the tree behind him as a support. He winced as the blood rushed from his head, making feel dizzy.

'From this moment on, Jordan, you have no friends. You do not love Tom. You do not even remember their names. They are nothing but obstacles to you now. /Not/ your friends. Understood?'

"B-but.." He quickly shut up and whimpered as a dull pang of pain (compared to what he had just gone through) shot through his head.

'Think of this as a sort of shock collar now Jordan. Anything, and I mean /anything/ that displeases me in the slightly will earn you twelve minuets of what you just experienced, with additional minuets added as I feel nessacary. No mercy, no break. You want to treat me with disrespect; I'll treat /you/ like a dog. Obey me and we won't have a bit of trouble. Got it?'

"..."

'I said /got it/?'

"Y-yes Lady Ianite.. I understand..."

'Good. Now, head towards the Twilight portal. We have plans to make.'

Jordan nodded and wiped at his face, drying his tears and making his way slowly towards the portal.

((/collapses onto the ground/ IM SORRY! I know its probably been a while since I last updated this story (or any story for that matter) and Im sorry! I've been having a bit of trouble with grades lately, so my stories have kind of been taking the back seat in terms of importance recently. And Im sorry..again. Hopefully, now that Im a bit more stable with grades I can finally get back to updating at least semi-regularly. This story will probably get a bit more attention then the others though.. Just saying. Also the next chapter will (spoiler!) not revolve around Jordan but around.. Tom?! Dun dun duuun! I wanna try out a new perspective so, keep an eye out! Hopefully this chapter makes up for my absence (its shorter cause i wrote this in the later few minuets of school..) But thank you for your patience and I hope you all enjoyed! I'll see all you people in the next chapter! Later!))