Factory Reset: Divine Corruption

Chapter Ninety

Chapter Ninety: Closing in

The hairs on Mason's fur stood on end, a tingling sort of feeling rising deep within his gut. An oozing feeling. Like one was standing in the darkest pits of an underground parking lot. No cars, no people, nothing but oneself and the gentle hum of the fluorescent lights, and the uncanny feeling of being watched. Of not being alone.

Inky wriggling, coiling around his intestines, turning his stomach into knots. The music had died down, silent. The rabbit clenched his lover's fist against his own, his purple eyes seemingly gazing far into the distance of the void around them. Silence. Gentle breathing. Silence. Gentle breathing. Then silence.

Then a noise. Gentle, like fingers licking at the strings of a fine tuned guitar. Plucking at the air, vibrations in a line being strung. Mason felt the pulse go across his body. Like a sharp arrow piercing the mightiest armor, it felt so wrong, and yet, it felt natural. Gone was the unnaturalness of the creation, gone was the space. The music was left.

Mason felt Ja'Kle grip his hand, tugging him along backwards as he picked him up, all the other protogen yelling to run. Mason barely heard them. It was barely in his mind, the brief shouts and the hard breathing of Ja'Kle. Hazy, foggy, twirling around, dancing in front of him while he was nearly blind. Colorless blobs of shapes and letters and numbers.

Mason could feel a burning well in his throat, a stinging pain that softly ramped up from a soreness, to a hectic, screaming, messy fire. Mason could not utter a word, a sound. He had the need to, the frantic, hectic, screaming need to yell out the pain in his throat, around his neck and yet he could not. He had a mouth and yet couldn't scream.

The green stripe around his neck burned, feeling like a tightly wound noose around his throat, the jagged and cut off end of the rope pressed against his nape, hung tightly from the ceiling. It was getting hard to breathe. Fear set in as everything became hazy. Ja'Kle gripped his hand tightly, feeling the energy slowly being drained from Mason. The rabbit looked relieved as he weakly grabbed at his hand.

They had obviously been around large amounts of Orange Boson Energy. The new kind, that much was obvious. What he could only wonder was why Mason's body had only now gotten to it's weakened state. Before they thought it was only Black Boson Energy. Maybe it was his body just being acclimated to dealing with the standard ones?

Everything had been stripped of its color for Mason. Just thin black outlines, no color shaded in. Like a digital drawing. There was depth, there were light and dark parts, shaded, but without the base color. Mason felt weird, feeling his stomach twist itself further. It felt so intense, and yet, peaceful at the same time. Not like the pain that Black Boson Energy brought along, no, this was different.

The cavern shook and broke apart as booms and loud noises rang from behind them. They kept running, Ja'Kle even flying as hard as he could to get them out of there. And yet, the floor kept going on and on. The energy was rising fast, infecting Mason with the newness and the vileness of unrestrained Boson.

Ja'Kle could feel that Ruinate had succeeded, somehow. He could feel it even as he flew faster and faster, the other protogen barely keeping up with him, and that was only because Rallycry was there with them. Mason meekly glanced back, his eyes shining so brightly they appeared as small lights.

The drowsiness, the feelings, the effects, were all being drained back out of Mason by Ja'Kle, who was holding his hand so tightly his knuckles turned bare white beneath his fluffiness. He was slowly gaining his cognition back, even as he was bombarded with the energy from all sides constantly. Ja'Kle toughed it out, his eyes dead set on a single goal: getting Mason out of there.

"Get... Ruinate..." Mason called out, meekly pressing his other hand against Ja'Kle, who's flying slowed as he glanced down at Mason. Ja'Kle wanted so badly to get Mason out of there, but he knew that that wasn't the purpose of the mission. They needed to make sure that the beacon that Ruinate was attempting to retrieve was the point. And that they all came second to getting that out safely. Even Mason.

Ja'Kle turned his head to look at the group. They were probably still stuck in the loop of terrain, that much was obvious based on how fast they were going, and them getting nowhere. The most sensible thing to do would be sending Rallycry and Gear-Work to help Ruinate behind them, while he, Noxious, Bailout and Renaissance all accompanied a weakened Mason to the end.

Ja'Kle looked back at Mason, and nodded his head. Ja'Kle turned mid-air, so that his wings were nearly scraping against the walls as he addressed the group, "Rallycry, take Gear-Work and give him the Overclock serum. Take Bailout with you as well. Me and Renaissance are going to take Mason out of here."

Ja'Kles' many eyes glanced at Renaissance, who appeared short of breath despite not needing it, stuttering and nearly tripping every few steps, spear jostling in his hand. The white protogen nodded, gulping down his fear as he pressed his hand against his chest, changing his color to purple. Acceleration.

"Thank you. Rallycry, help Ruinate carry the Beacon back as Gear-Work and Bailout defend you all. We need this to work, ok?" Ja'Kle asked, his voice tense and unnerved. Rallycry nodded, and within a flash, he took off in the opposite direction while still moving, bringing along Bailout and Gear-Work.

Ja'Kle returned his attention to the road ahead, feeling Renaissance touch his shoulder. In an instant, his body took on a purple coloration, and he felt his speed increase tremendously. The ground felt like a blur beneath them, Mason pressed tightly against his body as the coolness of the air and the underground stung.

Mason felt faint, and weak, but ultimately without the weirdness invading his mind. There was a trench in his mind, a breeziness, an emptiness. Ultimately it would go away, but it was still hanging there. Mason pressed his face against Ja'Kles clothes. He was supposed to be the strong one, why was he the one that always needed saving?

Ja'Kle placed a comforting hand against the backside of Mason's head, sighing deeply as they continued to accelerate. Space was elongating so fast, they were barely outracing it. Mason pressed his muzzle deep into Ja'Kles shirt as his lover gently ruffled his hand through his hair. It was comforting, like a warm blanket involving near a fire on a rainy day.

Ja'Kles' eyes stayed glued on the road ahead. They were so close to the exit, even as space itself was warping to prevent their escape. They could hear more noises now, more of the Residents of Caligaria ahead of them. It was obvious the protogen they left there to make an exit were having to battle.

Ja'Kles wings took on an absent matter look, sharpening to feathers that looked like a bird's wings. They needed to get out of there. For the sake of Ruinate, for the sake of Mason, for the sake of the team. For the sake of the universe.

Time to test out what his "blessing" could do...

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Howdy!

So, I'd like to ask for some feedback. Just three questions honestly, and I'd like to see what those that are still reading think. So thank you so very much if you answer, heh. Also, sorry for how long it's taken. Again.

1: Were the descriptions in this chapter good, and did they make sense?
2: Has the book gone on for far too long? Chapter wise, I mean.
3: Is a shorter chapter like this, around 1200 thousand words, more palatable and readable? Should I keep this length for chapters?

Thank you in advance! I hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading and I shall post the next chapter tomorrow!

~ Candle

1/21/2022