Tainted Balance

Determination

(( Hello again my lovelies! I'm back with another chapter of TB! What, did you expect me not to update for months again? Nah, I'm not that cruel, probably. Anyways! I've nothing to really say today, so let's just dive head first into it, shall we? ))

~*~WARNING: This chapter will get gory towards the middle! If you aren't comfortable with that, you might wanna skip to the ending notes where I'll give a brief summary of what happened! You have been warned!~*~

When Jordan woke next, he was surrounded by.. Well, nothing. But at the same time it was something. Undefinable shapes in indescribable colors flickered and dances in the non-existant walls of.. Wherever he was. He looked around, confused, trying to make sense of where he was and what was going on when suddenly-

"Well now.. Look who it is, my faithful follower. Hello again, Sparklez.~"

Jordan froze, shivering at the cold tone in the familiar voice. He bit his lip, slowly turning around to face the.. Thing that stood in front of him.

Ianite wasn't..herself, to say the least. She was barely recognizable as human, giant patches of dripping Taint covered her all over, even over taking one of her eyes, turning the whites a deep indigo. Her hair was little more than writhing tentacles of Taint, squirming and wriggling in every direction of its own will. Her clothes were rags, tears and holes randomly strewn about the fabric.

They met eyes and Jordan shuddered as he fought the urge to bow and beg for forgiveness. He.. He wasn't going to be scared. Not anymore. He was going to fight back. He was going to-!

He yelped in fear as a tentacle of Taint rose up from the..ground? It wrapped tightly around his abdomen, squeezing him tightly and forcing almost all the air out of his lungs. He gasped for breath helplessly as the Taintacle slammed him into the ground in front of the Tainted goddess. She smirked down at him, teeth sharp and dripping with something purple that sizzled like acid when it touched the floor(was it really a floor? It was solid but at the same time it looked like it was just a blank Void).

He whimpered breathlessly as the tentacle squeezed him once more, he could almost feel his ribs crack under the pressure before it let up. He stared up fearfully at Ianite, shivering and flinching as the strange liquid that dripped from her fangs, honest to the gods fangs, landed too close to his face for his comfort. It splashed against his skin, causing him to writhe and scream in pain as it are away at his flesh, threatening to dissolve the very bone underneath it.

He sobbed in fear and pain as Ianite laughed above him, a cruel sound that made nails on chalkboard sound like heaven. It hurt his ears, his head hurt, his body hurt, everything hurt so much and it just wouldn't stop-why wouldn't it stop? Stop stop sTOP STOP PLEASE S T OP-!

"Oh my poor sweet follower.. You know I do not like to punish you so."

A lie. He knew it was a lie, Ianite seemed to adore making him suffer for stepping out of line, as her earlier laughed clearly showed.

"I only wish to help you."

Another lie. Ianite said she wanted to help and Jordan wanted to believe her but.. She didn't help him. She made him a monster. A freak, some Taint infected beast she used to torment the land. She didn't want to help. ..His friends. Tom. They wanted to help him, not Ianite.

"Why can't you see that I only wish and do what's best for you?"

Liar. That's what Ianite was, a dirty liar who only wanted to destroy him from the inside out.

"I am your friend, dear follower. Your only true friend. Don't you trust me?"

She was not a friend. She was.. Evil. The word was bitter on his tongue (or perhaps some of the acid had landed on it while he was screaming? He wasn't sure. Everything hurt too much to tell where exactly it came from). Ianite and evil were two thing that Jordan would never have thought to put together and yet..