Dedicated to SJForester

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Chapter 45 - Radiance

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“Stop fighting the transformation, Tayne. You’re only making it worse for yourself,” said the Master. “I won’t have my new Hunter formed a Crevton.”

The ritual circle shrank and imprinted itself on Tayne’s forehead.

Tayne fell to his hands, his chest heaving. The design within the circle shifted and changed constantly as his features warred against themselves under the blood-red glow of the rune.

Skye tried to reach out to him, but the energy had fled her body. She had nothing left. The nature energy that usually resided in her soul was gone, stolen by the spell. Only empty space remained where she had previously drawn her strength from. By the Master’s will, the Naclictite fed her enough energy to keep her breathing, but it was all she could do. 

Tayne shuddered, his fingers clenching on the floor.

No, thought Skye. No. Not Tayne.

She found the strength to twitch her finger. Tayne seemed to sense the movement, his blue-grey eyes opening and flicking up to lock on hers.

They were dry, she realised. Dry of the tears spilling from her own. 

Skye blinked, holding back the flood. She didn’t cry. She never had. Not for her mother, her father, Naisha’s dead -- not anyone.

Not until Tayne looked at her. Looked at her like he had in Naisha with those eyes that pierced her carefully erected barriers against the world, those eyes that understood her, had been inside her soul that jumped in without hesitation or guile to help her without knowing the consequences to himself and it stung. It stung knowing that gaze would be disintegrated under the weight of the corruption, and it stung knowing there was nothing she could do about it but watch him crumble.

Her cheeks tingled, bringing with them a fresh wave of tears to pool on the Naclictite below. She could hear Tayne’s pained breaths, drawn through his nose. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth, pressed into a thin line. But his eyes never left hers.

“Just look at me, Skye,” said Tayne. His voice was a rasp. “It’s okay.”

Skye knew what he was saying. Look at him. Not his body. Not at how it was writhing and shifting like a parasite was beneath his flesh. At him.

He managed a smile, although it didn’t hide how his face tightened as the skin once again shifted from flesh to hardened armour. Tayne released a guttural growl from the back of his throat as his back arched, until the muscles seemed to relent and he pressed his forehead to the ground with a shuddering gasp.

“Don’t fight it Tayne.” Jesse’s voice wafted to Skye’s ears from somewhere beside her. “It’s easier if you just give in to it. You can’t resist it forever. He’ll get you eventually.”

Tayne’s head jerked up, aiming a furious glare at the direction of Jesse’s voice.

“Go... to... he...ell.”

Jesse leant over Skye, making his face visible to her. “I’ve already been there and back,” he said, sounding amused. “Fun, isn’t it?”

Skye’s body clenched, gripped with revulsion. Jesse was enjoying this, watching Tayne suffer as he had. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, but Jesse’s expression stayed behind her lids. It reminded her of the merchants in Alguarde, content to watch as the mother bled out in the alleyway. She remembered his reaction to them, his horrified face and the innocent disbelief that anyone could do such a thing. Had it been an act on his behalf? Was the corruption in him, compelling him already?

The Naclictite beneath Skye seemed to enjoy the doubt surging within her as the questions tumbled from her thoughts.

What could stop the corruption if it could change someone like Jesse, take his innocence and turn it into something so vile as wishing harm upon another? She felt her body accept the energy for her next breath from the Naclictite, and the doubt amplified. Was there even a point trying to begin with? Why--

Why do you fight?

The voice bounced around inside Skye’s skull.

I’m finally going insane, she thought.

“Enough,” said the Master, gesturing at Jesse who had taken to prodding Tayne’s arm. “Kiarae will wake soon. I can’t keep her soul suspended forever without damaging her beyond use. Tayne, give in to the corruption or I’ll show you exactly what it can do to Skye when she’s defenseless like this.”

Why do you fight, young one? the voice asked again, taking Skye by surprise.

It wasn’t the nature deity. Was she going insane? It didn’t feel like it. This voice was too different from her own. It was softer, gentle without the hardened edge of experience to it. And she’d heard it before. Felt it before.

When you lift your blade or your hand, is it out of anger? Fear?

She realised it was waiting for a response. I... I don’t know.

The Master looked at Tayne, his words lost in the soundless bubble of her soul as she slipped below the surface. The world took on a rippled quality. She could see the Master gesturing at her, see Tayne's lips twist into a snarl and see how the corruption took hold of his anger, his fear to further its grip on him. 

It is something every warrior should know. Something they all know, whether they admit it to themselves or not. Why is it that you are prepared to kill, prepared to sacrifice your life if fate so judges, my young one? Do you fight because you are angry, or because you have something worth fighting for?

Echoes of past battles replayed through her mind, flashes of metal and magic that brought her to this point. She found something in each, a similarity. The Silverborn, Naisha. I fought to protect those I care about.

Another wave of the Naclictite's energy entered her body, and with it, the doubt returned. Are these worth defending? it hissed. Images of the Queen, Donovan and the merchants entered the scenes, sneers and raised eyebrows of doubt and scheming clouding the faces she trusted. Fight for them, Sentinel. You protect them as well. It overpowered the scenes the voice showed her, forcing it back into the corner of her soul it’d come from with a shadowy tendril.

The voice was quieter when it spoke again, a soft melody that wrapped around her and shielded her from the tendrils invading her mind. Would you doom innocents to the corruption because of a few bad apples? 

Skye stopped. She'd used the same words to describe Naisha to herself. No, she thought back at the voice. I wouldn’t. 

You cannot harness my power if you doubt yourself. The corruption feeds from it, weakening me as it does. 

But--

What of the times you fought to protect those you did not know? The mother, for instance? Or the poisoned young Silverborn when they first gazed upon you in your cell?

They had no one else to help them, Skye replied, gaining confidence. I had to do something. I couldn’t let them die.

So then, you fight to protect those that require saving? From what kind of threat?

Skye watched the scenes rush by. In each a soft, golden light wisped around her, from her, assisting her actions and sometimes hindering them, unseen by all but the deities. Ones that will cause them harm.

Even if the harm comes from the individual themself?

Skye thought about the implication of its words for a moment before replying. Yes.

 She was vaguely aware of shouting outside her mental sphere. She refocused on the outside world, emerging from the clutch of her soul.

Tayne's eyes were fearful, glancing between her and something behind her. It was then she realised she couldn't see the Master any longer, and Jesse was no longer smiling. 

Sound returned to her as she surfaced from her mental sphere. 

"Do you have any idea what the corruption can do, Tayne? It is no longer refined to the mental, it can also affect the physical, such has its strength grown."

There was a tingling at the base of Skye's spine that made her shiver. 

 "Don't... you... dare," Tayne managed between breaths. 

"Uh, if you paralyse her, won't that kind of be bad when you turn her?" asked Jesse. "Like...--"

"Silence. It is not your choice, Jesse,” said the Master. “Now, Tayne, accept the corruption else she will never walk again.” He applied pressure to Skye's back and her body jerked. "And I've already found the nerve cluster. I assure you, her protection from the corruption doesn’t extend to her physical body."

Tayne squeezed his eyes shut, looking away. His shoulders shook, the rune on his forehead more aggressive than ever. 

"How about we start with something simple to show that I'm serious, shall we Tayne? I am sorry, but I’m losing my patience with you," said the Master. His hand ran up Skye's back, resting between her shoulder blades. "We'll start with the fingers."

His hand closed on her back, pinching the skin. Skye's arms slid forward along the ground without her permission, and she gasped. She tried to rein them in, sever the outside control but they kept moving, outstretched as if reaching for Tayne.

Her fingers went limp, sending a strange tingle through her arm but she could still feel them. Still sense them attached to her palm. The Master could control them, jerk them up and down and make them go limp, but it seemed he wasn't willing or simply couldn’t sever her connection to them. 

Tayne had no way of knowing that. He lifted his head once more, his damp eyes searching hers. Her expression must have alarmed him, because something changed in his face, his eyes, the part of him he’d told her to look at. There was something like acceptance in them. Horrified, she realised what he intended to do. 

He reached out, covering her hand with his own. 

"I'm sorry, Skye." 

The words turned her cold. No, no no--

The design stopped spinning on his head, the lines of the rune slowly settling and thickening with an eager finality. Tayne squeezed her hand. His head jerked back and he cried out.

Skye’s heart felt like it had stopped. A solitary word formed in her mind.

No.

The corner of her soul where the voice resided lit up. 

Harness my power, Sentinel. Fight to protect. 

Energy burned through her limbs as it released its power to her. 

Fight to save.

"Get away," growled Skye, pushing herself up.

Golden light bloomed on her hand where Tayne’s skin met her own. His fingers slackened and she grabbed his hand, gripping it for all she was worth. She wouldn’t lose him to the corruption. Not now. He wasn’t the corruption’s to take.

The pressure from the Master lifted from her back. "What--"

Skye’s head whipped around as she knelt up.

"I said, get away from him!"

The light shot up her arm, burning around her in a fierce halo as she drove her elbow into the Master’s stomach. He doubled over, face curling into a snarl but she wasn’t finished with him. She straightened her arm and unleashed a blast of gold energy that sent him flying across the room.

Skye turned to find Jesse backing up along the ground. Shock was evident on his face, but she wasn’t taking chances. She fired a second bolt at him, but instead of knocking him back as it had the Master, when the bolt hit Jesse’s chest it split into several ribbons of light, pinning his arms behind him. Flecks fell from the binding, peeling from the ribbons to hit the floor and turn the Naclictite beneath him grey.

She shot him an apologetic glance before turning back to Tayne.

Panic threatened to steal her light, the only thing that could save Tayne. The rune mark had almost settled on his forehead, the blood red glow sinking into his skin. His features were barely recognisable as human, except for the parts all tainted, especially the Hunter maintained. 

Like the eyes. 

Skye took a deep breath and squeezed his hand gently, where the skin was still flesh and not hardened armour.

"Tayne, come back." 

The golden light rushed down her arm, through her fingers as the flecks combined into a tidal wave of brilliance. She pushed it through her hand and into Tayne's skin, guiding it through his system and into his soul. 

She closed her eyes, allowing the golden flecks to see for her. 

Tayne's soul was cracked, fractured into several silvery blue pieces. Between the fractures, corrupted tendrils wriggled their way further in, sealing the pieces of soul together like glue. 

I am stronger in this form than this essence of corruption, said the voice. He still fights but you must hurry. 

Skye allowed instinct to guide her. Gently, she urged the golden light between the pieces of Tayne's soul. The light consumed the darkness, and once it was gone, she tried to withdraw her light and let the pieces mend. 

Only they didn't. The pieces wouldn't fit back together. 

His soul has split too far. It cannot be exactly as it once was if you wish to save him. 

I understand, said Skye to the voice. Then quietly, she touched Tayne’s soul with hers.

Help me, she whispered. I can’t do this alone.

Tayne’s soul responded. As Skye wove the golden threads into the cracks, the silvery shards of soul melted over them, holding them in place. When his soul resembled a completed mosaic, she pulled her magic back.

It will heal more completely with time, said the voice. You did well, young one.

Skye didn’t reply, instead carefully venturing back into her soul.

Instead of being empty, the entire thing was filled with a soft, golden light that floated like a melody around her. Its source was hidden in an unexplored corner, or rather, it had been hidden behind the nature until it was drained, and she’d unleashed it.

More to the point, she realised that she’d seen it before.

You... you’re the thing that saved me in the lake when I...

The voice seemed amused. Yes, when you drowned.

You were the thing blocking my nature magic, said Skye. Why--

A regrettable side effect of my residence in your soul, young one. Your emotions triggered or hindered me at times.

How did you--

There is no time, young one. There is still danger present.

The voice, the golden light pushed her back out of her soul.

Skye blinked. She was still clutching Tayne’s hand and her halo had extended, drifting around her, Kiarae and Tayne to form a shield from the Master’s wrath.

His eyes burned with a fury not conveyed in his tone. “Ah, you’re back, Skye. Please, do come out so we may finish this as Sentinels. Hiding from your enemy does not suit you.”

Skye released Tayne’s hand, giving it one last squeeze. “I’m not hiding from anyone.”

“I am ever so interested in what this infernal light is, I must say,” said the Master. Skye rose to a stand, picking up her blades which had somehow come to lay at her feet, which made him smirk. “Ah, you intend to fight? After how well it went last time?”

“You can’t shadow step to save yourself this time,” said Skye. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be.”

With that, he struck. His Naclictite blade sliced through the air towards her faster than her eyes could keep up with, but they didn’t need to. She brought her arm up, intercepting his blade with only her sword. Where the blades made contact, golden light wisped from her sword.

“I’m not.”

The Master’s form outlined in black as the corruption took over his body. Skye stepped forward, slashing at him with her dagger. A ribbon of light followed her blade, hissing as it made contact with a corrupted tendril and quickly consuming it.

I fight by your side, young one.  

“You can’t win against the corruption, girl. Give up now and I’ll spare your precious Tayne.”

Skye bit her lip, concentrating on the Master’s flurry of attacks when the voice emerged from within her. She felt its warmth on her back, but didn’t dare turn to look, holding the Master’s gaze.

She need not fear you, corrupted, said the voice. The Master hesitated, his eyes widening as they locked onto something behind her. The corruption is not the only thing of such power within the realms.

I am Radiance, and this is over.

Skye felt the word within her. She drew a deep breath and roared for all she was worth as one with the voice.

“Lit’anikryda!”

The essence of Radiance, the voice within her soul burst forth into the room, shattering the darkness around within its brilliance. Skye saw the Master retreat, try to flee from the advancing light, saw him trip and fall, covering his face as one word escaped from his lips.

“Ebony!”

The golden light overtook his figure, and Skye was forced to shield her own eyes or have her retinas burned out. She kept them covered for a full minute before she felt Radiance pull back into her soul.

You may look now, young one. I have retreated.

Skye peeked out from under her lashes to find that indeed, the light had vanished.

What are you? she asked the voice.

The voice, Radiance, hesitated a moment before replying, seemingly choosing its words.

Like the corruption, I am also a spirit. But unlike Evi’ll, or the corruption as you name it in this realm, I resonate from positive emotions. My counterpart feeds from the negative.

Questions raced around Skye’s mind. She struggled to choose one. She needed so many answers and the need for them was overwhelming, clambering over one another to be first. Radiance seemed to sense this, sending a wave of calm through her.

Be at peace for the moment, young one. There is still one more that needs your assistance.

Skye lifted her eyes, examining the room with closer detail.  

It was lighter as a result of the Naclictite no longer being black, instead now a light grey colour. Skye could feel the drain as she brushed against it with her fingers, but the return of energy as the Naclictite’s natural process completed each cycle balanced against it. The platform, the Mortal realm’s translation of the nature deity’s corrupted bindings was gone.

Skye glanced at Tayne, who was helping Kiarae sit up. The celestial’s skin was pale, but her eyes were open and the silvery sheen was returning to her hair. Beside them, hunched over and supported by shaking arms was Jesse.

Skye approached him slowly, kneeling beside him. She took a breath, pressing her palms together as she summoned Radiance’s essence to them.

“Jess?” she said softly.

He looked up, staring at her with haunted eyes of a soul that was twisted beyond repair. “I knew... knew you could do it,” he said. “But I didn’t help. I...I’m...”

Guilt tugged at her heart. “It’s not your fault,” said Skye. “You fought for as long as you could. The corruption is stronger than any individual soul and it was after you specifically... because of me.”

Jesse lowered his head and looked away. His face was unreadable.

Skye swallowed, compressing her hands one final time before separating her palms and cupping them. In the half-dome shape they created, a delicate golden tendril sprouted, slowly taking on a familiar shape, gaining thickness and strength as she called it to life.

“I can’t change what happened to you Jess, but I can stop it from happening again.”

Jesse raised his head, eyes locking on the tendril that had developed shoots and leaves from its stem and formed a bud at its tip. He reached out a tentative hand, uncertainty playing across his face. He shrank back from the bud as it twitched. “This is... you...”

“It will protect you from the corruption, for a time at least. Stop the shadow ether in your soul from allowing the corruption entry so easily,” said Skye. “I can’t fix your soul, not after what he did, but I can do this... if you want it. I won’t make you do anything.”

The bud opened up, sending shimmering amber petals reaching into the air around it. Skye lifted it higher, offering it to Jesse.

His fingers made contact with the centre of the flower in her hands, and the change was immediate. The pale golden shimmer born from the flower inched up over his skin, coating him in a thin layer of light before finally sinking into his skin.

The relief was evident on his face. The harsh lines faded, although his features never regained the innocence they’d once had. There was something that remained on his face, a cruel lesson about the world learned in blood.

“It’s gone,” said Jesse. He touched the sides of his head. “I mean, I can still feel it, it’s still there, but it’s not... it’s not inside of me anymore. It’s not pushing me.” His gaze lifted to Skye, its intensity burning into her. “You... you really did it.”

“I just wish it was sooner,” said Skye.

She closed her hands together once more, rubbing the remaining flecks onto the fabric of her leggings. She watched them dance for a moment across the ground before fading out of sight, back into the part of her soul where Radiance lay quietly, observing the world around it.

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There's one more part and a long A/N you probably won't read left. ONWARD!