The Heritor of Illipia

Chapter 30

Looks like the end is drawing near...
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        Nothing. That was what he felt. Even the anger that had just risen within him had disappeared in an instant. Elsword had been right. He, Chung, and Ara had all done well to come to his aid, but there was nothing they could do to get rid of the emptiness he had become. "Are you going to stay out here all night?" Ykuei asked.

        Ykuei had been present all the while keeping an eye on things. It was only after (y/n)'s visitors left that the hybrid child made an appearance. "Why are you still here?" (y/n) asked. He didn't bother to look Ykuei's way. "I was about to leave. I'm not going to tell you what you should do. I'm not in your situation, so I don't understand how you feel. I'm only here to help if needed. Just...try not to do anything rash," Ykuei spoke.

        "Did your goddess ask you to tell me that last part?" (y/n) questioned. The goddesses, the priestesses, and even his enemies were all on the list of things (y/n) wanted nothing to do with at the moment. "I'll leave that unanswered," Ykuei spoke. He promptly disappeared from sight afterwards leaving (y/n) in much wanted solitude. For once he found it reassuring to be truly alone.

        "You are not alone (/n). You've never been." In an instant, (y/n)'s calm disrupted as his nonexistent emotion flared up into wrath. "Speak to me one more time and I'll make sure you never have another inheritor again," (y/n) seethed. He didn't know how he was going to carry out such a threat, but he would certainly find a way if it was necessary.

        "Unfortunately for you, that isn't within your capabilities. Now listen to me. This is important," Illipia spoke regardless of his warning. "I said shut up!" (y/n) snapped. He covered his ears although he knew it wouldn't do any good. Blocking out the voice in his head wasn't possible. He would give anything to have died back in his village than to have lived on to suffer through this.

        "You don't really mean that. You had Ara afterall. Now listen. You're energy levels are unnaturally increasing. At this rate, you could drive yourself to an early grave. You're mother struck you with the blow of imbalance and threw your power into instability. I can help you," Illipia said. (Y/n) didn't want her help. He wanted it all to end. He didn't want this power any longer. He didn't want to be the main focus of everything. He didn't want to repeatedly face death like this.

        "Shut up, shut up, shut up!! Leave me alone!" he pleaded. The goddess' voice was the last thing he wanted to hear. He'd much rather hear his mother tell him again that she couldn't be saved than to hear Illipia say even one word. "I can't. You are tied to me thanks to your mother's actions. I gave you life in Sander and you became my inheritor. Now I have to make sure you fulfill that purpose. It is what your mother wanted," Illipia said.

        The mentioning of his mother is what broke him. He knew for a fact that his mother had warned him not to trust Illipia. Even now, the goddess wanted to use him. Perhaps it was partially his mother's fault for asking for Illipia's blessing to begin with. Maybe (y/n) would have survived the village massacre and lived a normal life in Sander. There would have been no way to tell. Destiny had made him the second survivor of that fateful day, and because of his mother's actions, he became Illipia's inheritor without even realizing it.

        Pain beyond reason rippled throughout him. He couldn't do anything but bear through it since it was far too great to even allow a whinper to escape. As many times as he had knocked on death's door, none of them had ever been this excruciating. He collapsed right where he was and his vision blurred with tears. He felt it, the imminent death, but he did not want to die. At one point in time, he could have cared less, but things had changed.

        "No. I refuse. I will not let you win. I won't be anyone's or anything's pawn anymore!" (y/n) decided. It was never really his choice to begin with. Zhu had already planned to grow his power within (y/n), so fate had changed course when the two of them met. Of course, this remained unknown to the both of them. No one would have been able to stop what he became.

        Gone. His power vanished. Every once of it left him along with the pain it had brought. Then it hit him at full force just as he struggled to pick himself up. He erupted into his familiar aura, but it was certainly not quite the same. The energy reverberated through the area making even (y/n) himself shiver at the sheer force of it. He sat on his knees and held his hands out in front of him as he began to process what was going on.

        "What the hell..." he muttered. He had been certain that he was about to die just moments ago. Now he was perfect fine. He wasn't angry, but he wasn't relieved either. (Y/n) remained at a constant state of neutrality as he saw his aura rising off of his skin in what seemed to be a green mist. "What just happened to me?" he whispered. No answer came to him. Neither from Illipia nor Zhu.

        A sudden sound caught his attention and he immediately focused on the source of it. Souls of his comrades began to pop up in his sight like festival lights. They were so far away yet he sensed them as if they were a part of him. The source of the sound was Zhu who was running towards him almost threateningly. (Y/n) watched as he approached and stopped quite a distance away upon seeing him.

        For the first time, (y/n) saw fear in the fox's eyes. Not just that, but he could sense it. Zhu's fear wasn't the only source. He sensed Ara, Chung, Elsword, Ykuei, and everyone else in the vicinity giving off an unbearable amount of fear. "What have you done?" Zhu asked. The fox could not communicate with (y/n) through private thoughts any longer. His connection had been entirely severed.

        "What just happened to me?" (y/n) asked. His hands began to shake as fear began to grow within himself. "Calm down. You're not in danger at the moment, but if you lose your composure, you could cause harm," Shi quickly explained. The fox was hesitant to walk to him it did so anyway. (Y/n) didn't understand why Zhu thought he would harm anyone, but he did realize that his power was different and dangerous. "Just calm down and walk to me," Zhu said.

        (Y/n) slowly stood up from the ground and concentrated on getting rid of his power. His fox features vanished and so did the aura rising off him. However, his senses remained sharp without showing any signs of dulling any time soon. When his power disappeared, Zhu sprang at him and knocked him to the ground. (Y/n) yelped in slight pain as Zhu dug both sets of claws into his chest just enough to break the skin. Zhu's sharp teeth hovered over (y/n)'s neck, for Zhu had stopped himself.

        "Zhu...are you going to kill me?" (y/n) asked. He was still calm but uncertain as to why Zhu took the actions he did. The fox let him go and let out a growl of frustration. "I can't. I was supposed to kill you long before this happened. Damned human attatchments are bothersome. Get up. You need to know what you are now," Zhu said. (Y/n) didn't move. He stayed put and allowed his racing heart to calm down. He didn't know what was going on, but he did know that things were about to change for him.
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I'm thinking of whether or not I should do another book for this or just end it within the next 3 or 4 chapters. Either way, I'll still need to do another Elsword related book after this. Well, until next time you epic readers!