Numbered and Factions

Chapter 15

 I hold my face in my hands, my body winces and wails in pain. Harmoninea comes over and sits on a chair placed next to my bed.

"That Endall thing.. Prophet man.. He mentioned losing myself to my element."

"Yes, what was happening is your element was quite literally taking over your body while you were passed out."

"So I almost died?"

"Sort of, how he explained it to me once was like the elements using the body as a puppet. He showed me a vision of the previous Lightbearer. The Lightbearer lost himself into a being of pure light, he called it the Lightborne. He didn't go into full detail about it though."

"Will that happen to Spark?"

"I can see it happening, he almost lost it in that fight with Glitch."

"Will that happen to me?"

"If you stay strong you can prevent it."

I scratch at my wrist, the pain in my torso builds and builds.

"How long have I been out?"

"About 5 hours, Spark and the others should be back soon."

I lay back and clutch my chest, my hand instinctively reaches for where the stone was. Harmoninea grabs my hand, her eyes glimmering a light magenta.

"Dont be messing with your wound Pixy,"

I pull my hand away, the wound feels empty and wider than it is. I can feel it warping over itself and folding in.

A drum beats in the back of my head, or was it my heartbeat. It pulses and drums like a thousand voices, chanting, swirling, yowling, singing. A thousand voices of those trapped in the dark, they chant to a unknown melody, a shadowy church choir. The pain of my torso spreads and moves; it covers my legs and grabs at my face like water in a pool. It whispers in an unknown language. Pawing at my face slowly and surely.

It's bliss in the dark young kit. Join our song. One of us..

I feel my heart reach out to them, they grab it in troves. Hundreds, thousands, millions of little hands taking my heart into thier own. It feels... good in a way. Things feel off with the colors around me dimming into nothing but a rich shadow. I like it.. Is this what being a shadow spirit is like?

***

Piper runs down the hallway, Harmoninea screamed something with her name. Her boots hit the ground like small waves of thunder, she throws the door open to the unfolding scene.

The dorm is darker than it usually is, Harmoninea sits pinned behind the bed with a large hulking shadowy figure over her snarling. Its face drips to the floor in a puddle of black, eyes blazing white with matching teeth, jowls melting down over the teeth with a snarling smile hanging open.

"Harmoninea!!!"

"Piper!"

"The hell is that thing?!"

"Pixy!"

The figure turns to Piper and growls. Its face contorts and morphs into god knows what. More eyes, more teeth, longer hands and claws. Piper faces it with a smirk,

"So you're Pixy now,"

The creature growls and roars. Harmoninea slides against the wall over to her partner.

"Don't give me that, girl."

It snarls and opens its hands into needle sharp claws. Harmoninea grabs Piper's arm, her horn glows slightly.

"Piper, the lights."

"Oh right, I gotcha sweetheart"

Piper steps to the side and runs at the wall, the thing goes right after her with a shriek. Harmoninea uses her wings and bolts forwards, her horn and eyes glow as she draws runes in the air. The thing turns and tries striking her, Harmoninea dodges and grabs it by the arm. She turns her body on a hooven pivot and slams it down. The creature shrieks and whines, its body melts into the floor.

"Piper, now!"

"On it!"

Piper kicks the lights on in the room, the runes glow and flash brighter than the sun. The creature screams and cries in a devilish key, it shirks and contorts. Harmoninea comes over with another set of runes around the creature, they flash up into a bright magenta and Harmoninea slumps over. Piper holds her partner's body and guides her to the ground. The creature shrieks and wails before it falls to the ground.

***

I'm falling, farther and farther. Darker, darker, yet darker. Deeper and deeper still. A hand reaches out in the scape in a blaze of magenta, a body and face follow it.. The witch. Harmoninea. Her hands grip my sides, powerful wings throwing us up through the scape, she's silent and holds me close, she's warm, I look back as those hundreds of voices call me back down. Voices mending together in a whirlwind of sound, magenta hands cover my ears as we surface. I gasp and breathe, shadows pour from my mouth and off my body as it reforms. I cough and gasp and Harmoninea holds me there.

"You alright Pixy?"

I groan and look up, the sky of the plain tints magenta.

"Don't scare me like that. You lost it."

"I.. did?"

"They must've caught on to us talking and made a move."

"I.. guess.."

Harmoninea's body glows brighter as the scape shifts and contorts. Then nothing.