Battle Academia (The original one)

Chapter 38: Paranoia

His arms were strapped to the bed. His long, dark hair was messy and tangled. His chest bare. Covered in blood and metal. His eyes wide shut. His whole frame seemed shrinking and collapsed.

Zoe couldn't stop biting her fingernails as she sat on a chair next to him.

Her eyes lit up when the man reappeared in her line of vision.

"So when will he wake up?", she asked.

"For the last time Zoe: I don't know.. This might be better for him actually".

Professor Zed placed a wet towel on Kayn's forehead. The boy was burning up.

The tears stung her eyes but she wouldn't let them roll down her cheeks. She took a deep breath in order to stay calm.

"There has to be something right? There has to be something we can do!", she pleaded in a high pitched voice.

Professor Zed let his head fall down. His disappointment was tangible. Was this the right place?, Zoe wondered.

After she'd found Kayn's limp body lying on a road almost outside the town her first thought was to get him to Professor Zed. He'd know what to do.. Right? Right?

Her second thought was to notify Ezreal. But the boy with the golden locks was nowhere to be found. He was gone. At a time when Kayn most needed him Ezreal was gone. She felt angry at him. What kind of a friend was he exactly? Friends are supposed to be there for you!

But most of all she felt angry at herself. She didn't exactly know why that was but she'd seen this coming. She had this nagging feeling for quite some time. She was wracking her brain to come up with an explanation. With a plan. With a solution. But she just didn't know what do. How would she help Kayn get rid of the Darkin that was infesting his body?

"His mind was weak", Zed said in a stern voice. His white bangs almost covered his eyes as he cleaned Kayn's chest from the blood. "And now his body is weak as well".

"He's fighting him!", Zoe exclaimed. "I know Kayn, Professor. He's a fighter"!

Zed let out a small smile.

"I don't doubt that Zoe. He is my student after all", the Professor said in an uncharacteristically gentle tone. He sighed. "He's sleeping because his body can't handle the pain", he explained. "He's changing. Look at him".

Kayn's body was slowly but steadily being covered in the metal-like material that had already consumed his arm. Even half of his face had been corrupted.

"He's turning into a Darkin", Zed buried his face in his hands. "Valmar.. Kai.. I've lost way to many students to this.. curse. When will they learn not to mess with these things!?". When his eyes met Zoe's she noticed that they were red as the tears were dangerously close to falling.

"I'm sorry.." . The man took a deep breath in order to snap out of it. "If he wakes up he might die from the pain. We can't let him wake up".

Zoe covered her mouth with her hands. No.. This can't be. Kayn's normal hand was twitching.

"I'm the Aspect of Twilight!", Zoe said desperately once she regained her cool. "There has to be something at least I can do"!

Zed furrowed his brow.

"You could seal the Darkin back into his weapon. That's how he was defeated last time.. But if we do that now.. You will be sealing Kayn's soul inside as well.. He'll be lost forever into oblivion. The Darkin may be immortal but he is not".

Zoe bit her bottom lip.

"Kayn has to beat the Darkin on his own", Professor Zed concluded.

At the same time, the boy's hand started to twitch violently. They heard his breathing pattern become less steady. His eyebrows were knitted together.

"He's waking up!", Zed deduced.

We can't let that happen.

Without hesitating Zoe grabbed Kayn's hand and focused. She saw purple. She saw butterflies. She saw a tiny bubble hovering over her friends head. She focused her mana as the bubble grew bigger by the second. The butterflies inside were multiplying at fast rates, leaving trails of pixie dust as they shined bright. With one swift movement, Zoe let the bubble land gently on her friend's face. No more than two seconds later, Kayn was back to a calm sleep.

Water. When he tried to open his mouth tiny bubbles of air escaped his lips. He was trapped in what felt like an underwater cage. He kicked the metal bars but they wouldn't badge at all. His heart started to race so fast he was scared that his ribcage would explode. His chest felt heavy. He was starting to panic when he realized that he could breathe.

He could breathe underwater.

He took a glance to his left. A disheveled, small figure was in the cage next to him. This creature couldn't even stand up. Let alone try to escape this prison.

Kayn kept kicking and screaming but to no avail. The water pressure was unbearable. He saw the bubbles that had left his lips escape from the cage. He tried to reach them extending his arms but the bubbles bursted at his touch. And he.. He was still locked away.

A few moments later a bright red light made him squint. He was full of hope but all of a sudden it started to burn. The water around had been filled with thick blood. He slouched and tried to cover his body with his arms. The light was burning his skin. He screamed and he screamed. The sound of his voice echoed distorted in his eardrums.

Out the corner of his eye, he spotted a hooded figure that was holding tightly onto a book. Kayn saw his skin burn and wither. The man in the hood was reading something out loud in a tongue that Kayn had never heard of before. It was almost as if he was chanting.

Soon enough the cage was filled with ash. And as his body was slowly deteriorating and disappearing, the figure next to him was evolving. Taking a new, bigger form. It was becoming stronger and stronger. Its bones were starting be covered in red flesh and muscles. Bright, scarlet eyes were glowing in the water. Terrible horns cut through the creature's skull.

The last thing Kayn saw was a smile. A smile that would be etched in his mind forever.

Silence. Darkness.

"Poor Kayn.. Guess I was a bad influence after all".

The boy's lungs and throat felt empty. He felt like he was choking.

He heard a deep, husky voice hum to a children's song. He heard a music box play in the distance.

Rhaast.. he thought. Rhaast.. I must not forget.

"Kayn's dead baby. Kayn's dead", he heard someone sing-song.

Rhaast. A long forgotten ancient word.

What does it mean?

The voice kept humming happily but Kayn couldn't see a thing.

What does it mean?

"Obey. That's what it means idiot".

He couldn't see a damn thing.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't move.

A tiny ray of light. Followed by a small, purple butterfly.

It came and sat on his kneecap leaving a trail of glittering pixie dust behind it.

I must not forget.