"Havana, any signs of-"
The communicator is disintegrated by flame, turned into nothing but black ash to be carried away by the wind.
"ZURA, STOP THIS-"
"You're nothing but a sniveling bug blinded by the illusions of friendship. You're weak because you rely too much on the faith and strength of others. This is why you find yourself under the boots of the elite!"
Zura's heel lifts off the insect mage's head, and kicks her with steel toes right between the translucent wings on her back. Agony straining her voice, she flies, tumbles, and rolls away.
"I don't know what that burnt dude did to make you like this, but I won't give up on you, Zura..."
Havana slowly rises from where she laid, then glances toward the heel which abused her and holds her hand out to summon her magic.
"Denizens of the Earth, survivors of time and inheritors of dust, come forth and break the spell which has seized my friend." She whispers with the hissed vigor of determination, a colorful mass of insects erupting from the ground and capturing Zura's leg. Working as team, the mass spreads up her limb quickly.
Unfortunately, their progress is stopped short by a dark pulse emitted by the human ladder they scale. The pretty hues suddenly halt, and are infected black down to the soil. Then, they disintegrate into the wind's influence, joining the communicator.
Havana is shocked. To begin with, these insects are highly absorbent of ethernano, meaning even magic of the intensity of Zura has little to no chance of effectively holding her bugs back with such ease. Moreover, Zura's magic is always pure white, not tainted black.
Before Havana can think of anything else, her head is gripped viciously from behind. She is lifted onto her knees, and violent fingers find their way into her mouth. So many, so thick in comparison to her small jaw, she cannot not even begin to close her oral cavity. Caught like this, she is at the mercy of her former friend, who casually walks toward her with a stride oozing sinister confidence. Her normal mage outfit melts away to reveal the scandalously malicious new costume she dons, a stark difference to the bright modesty she once displays. Havana feels tears come to her eyes, which are forced to stay open by her captor, while she stares at the Slayer of Light. A kick to the stomach brings saliva out of Havana's mouth with a hack and choke, and although she wants to double over, she is forced to continue looking at her transformed friend.
"This is no longer the companion you knew, no longer the Dispeller of Darkness you cowered behind and pressured." Says a voice right beside her ear, her strained eyeballs turning to witness the traumatized flesh and disinterested expression.
"She has come to realize the futility of friendship, she recognizes that you and yours abandoned her in her time of most need. And, now, she has improved."
Havana wants to cry out against this presumption, she wants to scream that he was wrong, but Zura acts quicker. The kneeled mage's mouth is stuffed with Zura's hand, the tip of her middle finger touching the back of her throat. Havana gagged on Zura, losing the ability to breathe. It does not help that her backside violator moved his restraint to her nose, the pair completely inhibiting her ability to breathe.
"You too will understand what the truth of friendship is, what society has lied about. You will have those false notions and false emotions purged from you, and you will become a vessel through which others are educated. Quit your struggle and befriend the friendlessness. You will be in a stronger union with your cherished partner through the understanding that cherishing anything at all is useless, and that loneliness is the highest form of unity."
As he speaks, her consciousness begins to fade, her eyeballs rolling to the back of her head as her waking state weakens. Eventually, she succumbs to the blackness, and finds her eyes transforming into distorted voids like Zura's.
Havana is released when the work is done, Zura's enzyme-drenched hand exiting the cavity smoothly, the slime acting as easy lubricant from the relaxed throat. Djinn let the girl drop onto the dusty ground, and stands up himself, dusting his hands off and looking in the direction Havana had come from, knowing her friends are following behind and are probably panicking now that their friend's communication device has been permanently deactivated.
"They'll be coming, and they'll be coming with all they've got." Zura informs sternly, standing beside her leader.
"Then we will give them a welcoming surprise for their charming efforts." Djinn decides, looking over to Havana as she rises from the ground, reborn as a parasitic queen. All forms of crawlers and creepers, all sorts of multi-legged horrors and pincer-pinching monsters traverse her skin and follow her royal lead. She understands her job, again taking the vanguard. But, this time, she is not tasked for the sake of restoring family, but for the sake of destroying the very notions upon which that concept stands.
