12 Forged in Ebon (1/2)

I glanced up and said, ”Ah, yeah. Fuck no.” I cut agony up to full, but Baldag-Ruhl didn't even flinch. The insects piled up around me, and Baldag-Ruhl said, ”They chew you up in seconds, little one. I have no qualms killing you. I have all that I need. I'll just use one of your friend's bodies instead of yours.”

I smashed my hand into the stone beneath me and roared, ”Fuck.” I hit the floor again with three blows, cracking the rock. I roared out obscenities of all kinds.

Baldag-Ruhl shivered as he loomed over me. He said, ”Kill that aura before I kill you.” I shut off agony before Baldag-Ruhl continued, ”Come, before I chew off your limbs and drag your torso with me.”

With a heavy heart, I obeyed. Around the room, the tunnels flooded with water, but every drop funneled into whirlpools around the golem cores. The water swirled into tiny drops of mana that created small streams of the glowing mana. These eight streams flowed into the center of the room.

The bottom tier of the colosseum filled with the glowing liquid, and Baldag-Ruhl said, ”Go there, towards the center.”

I walked with a heavy head and slow pace. Like walking towards my own execution, my hands grew numb and my eyes heavy. My throat burned as I pushed down tears of frustration. I was going to become the tormented.

Baldag-Ruhl said, ”You will first swim in this mana. That will form the blueprint of the shell.”

I reached the pool of mana, terrified and desperate. I glanced around, looking for an escape. None met my eye. Baldag hissed, ”Into the pool, little lamb.”

A horde of insects formed a ball that shoved me into the pool. A cool, pleasing sensation wrapped around me from all sides. An earth shattering boom sounded above the liquid, and the mana pulled towards me.

The mana condensed, further and further until it changed into a solid around me. As if reading my very being, it tied itself to me. The mana took on a rougher shape, like a fire frozen in place. After a few seconds, it imprinted every single one of my cells into its every drop. Pulling off and above me, the mana condensed into a sphere.

Everything came back as the liquid no longer covered my eyes. All of the runes of the room glowed a fierce white. As I glanced up, the giant blue fire lighting the room had turned into a blinding white light of pure, resonating energy.

The ball hummed from the hidden power within it. Arcs of lightning streaked from it, the density of it expanding even further. Like a blue sun, the ball grew and grew until collapsing on itself. The implosion generated a tear in the space above me, exposing something...else. From it, a dark, seething energy seeped out.

As I gazed into the abyss, the abyss gazed back into me. Alive and wicked and vicious, Baldag-Ruhl pulled up his arms and weaved the leaking miasma into a single point. The slight flow turned into a torrent, like a flood of black. The crack in our dimension gushed withf energy, erupting with violence.

The blue sun of before was nothing in comparison with the new ball of black. This was absolute darkness, the embodiment of black. It absorbed light near it, draining the life from the air. I ran towards the edge of the pool and jumped, but a forcefield met me, bouncing me back.

Baldag-Ruhl said his words with the weight of lead, ”Shush, child. Lay down and fall asleep. The spell has your soul carved into it. This new carapace will accept your soul as its own.”

The ball of compressed black molded to his will. Sounding like rupturing steel, a sharp creaking beat against my ears. Blood poured from my eardrums as the armor took shape. I didn't have time to watch.

My mind raced for anything, any lifeline or way of getting out. None came to mind until I remembered the Corundum of Souls. I glanced at it from my menu screen,

Corundum of Souls(Legendary Unique) - 998,855/1,000,000 Mana Charged

My mana had been draining the entire time. Good goddamn do I need it right now. I reached for my mana, finding my pool empty and my current mana regen being pulled into it. I tried pulling more of my mana into it. The headache returned, but no extra mana regen was being added.

I don't have the goddamn hour this will take to fill up. I need it now. I kept jerking at the mana. I could feel no more coming from my efforts. The black armor was beginning to take shape.

Baldag-Ruhl said, ”Now, allow me to mold your soul, little lamb. You will become this wolf's skin. You will become this wolf's flesh.”

I redoubled my efforts of adding more mana. My hands started shaking. My knees wobbled. A vein in my nose burst as blood poured from it. My eyes grew bloodshot. I grit my teeth. I clenched my fists. Sweat poured down my face as I struggled, and struggled and struggled more still.

As the black miasma floated down towards me, veins in my eyes burst from sheer exertion. Veins appeared on my neck as my face turned red. The fingers of my fist dug into my hand, blood pouring from them as I groped for more mana. I found none.

Baldag-Ruhl continued, ”Go ahead, child. Let me in. Let me into you.”

Blood poured from my eyes and ears and nose. My teeth cracked then broke then shattered. I exerted with a will of steel, pounding against my mana. I demanded more. I commanded for more mana. I willed until the miasma hit me.

The black miasma was a violation, something wrong, something awful. It crawled inside the very fabric of my being, bending me. It met my soul like a wall of steel. Baldag-Ruhl drooled and frothed at the mouth, gurgling his words,

”You cannot stop it. Everything you are will become mine. You will lose yourself and become but a tool.”

I surged with a frantic panic. Wild and howling, I fought against the force with more exertion than I imagined I could. I became a pillar of willpower, a monument of the human spirit. Baldag-Ruhl laughed at my resistance, but I kept struggling.

I calmed my panic and became resolve. I became discipline. I became determination. As the miasma from all sides crawled into me, I never gave in. I defied it. I chose to swallow this darkness. It did not swallow me.

Something snapped. A tiny dribble of mana poured from me, creating a raging torment throughout my body. The excruciation tore me apart. However, this was not the end. This was the beginning.

I poured more of this new mana into the Corundum of Souls. The pain intensified even further. Somehow, I continued through it. I converted my flesh and blood and bone into mana.

I struggled against the opposing forces, one of pain and one of submission. I wanted so badly to just give in, to let go. I didn't. I shocked myself with my sheer desperation.

And so, the Corundum of Souls was filled.

Corundum of Souls(Legendary Unique) - Holds a single, uncorrupted soul.

With the last of my strength I pulled the gem from my pocket. All the blue streaks from before were gone. The crystal was pitch black. The miasma poured out of me and into the defenseless soul. It molded under the current, melting under the unimaginable pressure of the miasma.

As the black energy disappeared from around me, Baldag-ruhl said,”W-what? What's going on? Why aren't you molding to my spell? How are you still here?”

The black suit of armor he created pulled towards me, drawn to the gem's power. Baldag-Ruhl pulled his hands, pus leaking from his broken carapace. He screamed, ”No. No. No. I will not lose my creation. I cannot lose it. All that I am is this one piece of armor. This is my only way out of this forsaken hell. I will not lose it to a tiny, pathetic lamb.”