The Corruption

Chapter 11

In a cave, Amare Island

Back in the darkness of the cave the two gods continued to walk, hand in hand. Hana smiled softly as she stared at their intertwined fingers, it was truly strange... They had met only barely a day ago, and yet he already provoked such a warmth in her heart, perhaps because it had been so long since someone had seen her for her personality and not for the image of what she represents... Perhaps because in some way, they were both caged... While undoubtedly Misha had gotten the worse of it... Being both physically and mentally confined in a small space for so long, in a way... she though they could understand each other to a certain degree, as she had been made a prisoner by others expectations, locked in her own mind space and living only as a beautiful picture... She closed her eyes for a second, driving away such thoughts from her head. But a wish still burned deep in her heart, a small flame of hope, that when the danger was gone, they could simply enjoy each other's company and learn to heal and to live with the support of one another.

"My Lady, I think we found it." Misha turned his head slightly to look at her, a smile gracing his lips, not quite as warm as his previous ones, it seemed more tired in a way, but that would be to be expected. "We did it!" She grinned in response, squeezing his hand, before taking a second to look around. "Although I must say... It feels like a trap... Whoever went to such great lengths to get us here wouldn't let us leave so easily..." Misha nodded, although Hana could not see it since she stood with her back turned to him. "We should go back, on the surface I definitely know this forest like the back of my hand." The goddess chuckled softly, taking a step forward, but upon felling the stagnancy of the body holding her hand, she tilted her head back confused, being meet with the god looking at his free hand, lost in thought. "Sir Misha?" He did not flinch, and took a second before turning to face her, softly pulling his hand back from hers and letting the other also fall to his side, his emerald eyes sparkled against the sun of the outside, but not warmly like before... they looked as tired as his previous smile, which by itself would be quite normal but they also looked cold... like when the man had faced the arachnid monster. A sudden breeze diminished the flame.

"Sir... Misha?" Hana called again, trying to understand what was happening, while also taking a small step back... Something in the way in the Misha stared at her, so blankly, almost in a predatory way made her feel suddenly small, despite being basically of the same height as him. "My Lady." His voice was also colder. No... His whole aura was colder, deadlier. And it was enough to make Hana try and run away, but before she could even pick up her pace her body was already slammed against a nearby tree. It didn't really hurt, despite the dangerous look on his face he did not glare, his movements were precise but gentle. "I probably own you many explanations." His words were spoken in such a quiet tone that if they weren't so alarmingly close, she would most likely have missed them. "Unfortunately, there is no time for it." And the millions of questions that raced on her mind were silenced by the cold felling of a blade against her neck. She could only gasp in both surprise and pain as she felt blood dripping from the wound. She should be scared, she really should, but she was mostly just confused... about a lot of things... like why he fought the monster with his hands when he had a blade or why did his face still show no hostility even as she was sure he would kill her without missing a bit or even why he was doing this and yet... "You were the one who kidnaped me." It wasn't a question. "I was." He still responded.

The flame disappeared.

She stared blankly, she should feel betrayed, yet she didn't. Why? Perhaps because she already knew, she wasn't an idiot, all the signs were there and even as she decided to ignore it and indulge in the fantasy of having a friend just a while longer, in the back of her mind she always knew. Knew that sooner or later he would make a move. She just didn't know why. Why was he doing this? But she knew he wouldn't answer, so all she could do was notice how the tip of his fingers were now black, almost looking like they were burning from the inside. She closed her eyes as he pressed the blade deeper, the cut aching against her neck, and yet she didn't scream or shout, not even gasp like before, if you ignored the tears of pain building in the corner of her eyes, she looked almost serene. What was the point of fighting? She was weaker than him and she knew it... Her mind went back to her childhood, when she pleaded to her mother to at least allow her to learn basic self-defense, and a part of her regretted the way she only quieted down and nodded lifelessly as her mother denied it, saying it was not lady-like and not how the future goddess of love should behave. But strangely, the thought of death didn't scare her as much as she supposed it would... Just a few days earlier she was trembling over that very same thought so why did it not bother her now? Oh... Right...