Hadrian scared the Warden.

Well, alright, he didn't really scare the Warden per se- that was, Hadrian himself would not inspire the Warden to break out into a cold sweat or avert his gaze or try to breathe evenly without making anyone suspicious- but the fact that he worked for Ivor without, seemingly, any issue or struggling to keep up or any kind of magical overload or wearout was a bit intimidating for the Warden, who could barely do any magic at all.

He wasn't sure why he was made a baron- all the others he knew, like Binta (she was the nearest in proximity) and Magnus (the second nearest) had excellent control of their magic and had specific affinities. Warden barely had enough skill to heat up a coffee cup.

And even then, it exploded.

Without Jesse keeping a buffer, it also felt incredibly awkward.

Especially because Jack was here (and Jack in his own right was a half-demon to fear, but also due to their, er, complicated past affairs), and because Ivor and Harper were there.

Ivor and Harper were both fairly powerful lords- which was good, he supposed, but he did also know that Harper and Ivor had a crush on each other (or... something), which made it more awkward because he wanted to give them space to bond but also knew it was very much not his business to get into his lord's love life.

Jesse was struggling to move down into the cell without dropping into the lava streams that permeated the room. There were multiple, criss-crossing the ceiling of the chamber, providing a warm light that seethed with energy.

Ivor was intently watching the surveillance screen to make sure Jesse didn't just plummet straight into a stream of lava, Harper absently leaning on his shoulder.

The Warden cleared his throat, drawing a few eyes onto him. "Ah... so, why is there a human doing the purifying?" he asked, trying to sound casual but probably doing more of an impression of a field mouse.

"Long story short, Jesse has apparently a high affinity for light magic, so it'd be more efficient to send them off the bat- besides, this way we minimize the chance of Ivor getting infected with it," Hadrian said briefly.

The Warden tried to imagine Ivor becoming corrupted- infected- with negative energy.

He immediately got chills down his back at the very concept of it.

"Ah. I see."

"They've also purified the previous two patches of negative energy alone, so it's logical," Hadrian added.

There was a short pause.

Petra, Jack, Ivor, and Harper had taken a moment from intently watching Jesse slowly hop down little ledges of lava streams to stare at Hadrian.

The look they were levelling at Hadrian would've made the Warden melt in fear, to be quite frank.

"What?" Ivor asked, slowly, in a voice that was deadly calm.

Hadrian blinked back at Ivor. "Jesse's been purifying the last two patches of negative energy. In Redstonia and Boom Town. By themselves."

There was a frighteningly long pause at that, the five of them having a standoff with nothing but their gazes.

"Nobody told you?"

"Why did you let them purify it alone?" Ivor continued, in that deadly calm voice.

Hadrian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I didn't let them, the first time we couldn't get into Ellegaard's Dome of Thinking or whatever it was called so they went ahead to try to get her to let us in. She was stuck in negative energy so they had to purify it to have her let us in."

"And the second time?"

"Ivor, I don't have a good handle on light magic. None of the contracted demons do- Jack, maybe, but certainly not Aiden or Gill." Hadrian rubbed his forehead. "If one of us went into an enclosed space with negative energy, it could've been more distracting than if they just went in by themselves. We're not going in with them for that specific reason."

"I thought you were going to be in the general vicinity with them. Not just... I dunno, hanging out on the sidelines," Petra said, glaring at Hadrian.

The Warden had to hide a smile at the fact that Hadrian looked so exasperated right at that moment. "I was attempting to, but it's a little difficult considering Gill and Maya thought it would be a good idea to enter Jesse into the Death Bowl that Magnus was holding."

"Gill and Maya did what?" Petra seethed, her jaw clenching even tighter.

Hadrian's looked like he was about to head-desk.


Jesse took a shaky breath as lava (or the Cosmos equivalent of it) bubbled inches away from their foot.

Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't-

A bubble popped near their foot.

Panicking.

They slowly shifted and dropped onto the next bit.

The cell was at the very bottom of this weird maze of lava streams- which, on the bright side, meant they just had to be careful and not land in the giant pool of lava surrounding the small stone island.

On the downside, there was a giant pool of lava surrounding the small stone island.

Jesse came down another ledge, peering down. Probably one more jump, and they could land without breaking both of their ankles.

Yes, that would be preferable.

Reuben snuffled quietly in their little backpack. Jesse measured the jumps, then took one, two, three and landed in a crouch on the stone island.

The negative energy's effect was immediate; Jesse almost tumbled backwards right into the lava.

It was a seething, hateful gooey thing, clinging to the inside of the cell like a spiderweb and also starting to pool around the cell itself- Jesse had to make a conscious effort to not accidentally stand in the stuff.

Okay... light magic. Right.

This was a bit different. It wasn't in a person, or in an object (like the weird food object in Boom Town), but just... sitting. In a cell.

If energy could really ever be said to 'sit'.

Jesse hesitantly lifted their hands and stared at the seething mass. It moved like a heartbeat.

Gross.

"Umm... okay. Hi."

There was no response.

(Jesse would've been scared out of their wits if there had been-)

Who...

Jesse almost fell into the lava.

(Never mind.)

It sounded like a thousand voices were whispering all at once, some high pitched and screechy, some so low that they were guttural and scraped the center of the Earth itself. Strangely enough, the voices sounded far away, distant- like Jesse was miles away from it and they were hearing it in the distance.

Jesse looked around, but unless they were somehow missing a thousand people, there was nobody in the cell with them.

You...

Then... the only source of it had to be...

Come here...

Jesse stared at the seething mass of negative energy. Was it just their imagination, or was the blob slowly leaning towards them, as if it was a spider in a web, watching its prey struggle helplessly?

The words were clumsy, strangely formed- like half-shaped deformed things that had been thrust out of the vocal cords (if this seething mass of literal hatred even had vocal cords), past the lips (or lips) and out for Jesse to hear.

Their brain felt like it was vibrating from the strange force of this 'voice' (Jesse had the feeling it was in their head).

Maybe this thing had somehow learned how to communicate, through the memory of hatred and fear and being trapped in a tiny box.

Reuben whined, snapping them out of the trance they'd slipped into while staring at the negative energy. They realized they'd unknowingly walked towards it and hastily backed away before they could step straight into the seething mass. They shook their head a little, shaking off the disappointment that was clinging to their shoulders, their skin, and lifted their hands.

Get rid of the negative energy. That was the main goal here.

That was the whole reason they were here.

They began to chant.

You...

Jesse focused on chanting quietly, the spell's words strange and foreign on their tongue. They were sure if they'd run it through some sort of translator they could've come up with something- some of the words felt very human, as if it had been a language Jesse had just never learned- but they didn't have the time to think about it right now.

Even though this negative energy was perhaps as bad as Ellegaard's, without a proper host, it was just kind of sitting there- so (as Hadrian had guessed, at least), a strong light spell would get rid of it- or at least force it to dissipate long enough that Ivor himself could come down and handle it (since even the lords weren't the best at light magic).

Jesse hoped Hadrian was right; it would be bad if it didn't work.

The light began to slowly glow from their fingers, seeming to sear into the dark, seething mass- it jerked a little, making Jesse's shoulders stiffen in alarm, ready to fight back.

But it seemed to be merely starting to squirm in pain(?) as the light began to burn through it. There was no sound except the faint echoes of the voices in Jesse's ears, slow, clumsily formed words that were pounding through their head along with their heartbeat. Jesse supposed that the good thing about negative energy was The center of it was lightening, turning translucent and releasing a strange sort of smoke into the air.

Will be...

They had to struggle to ignore it now. The voices (voice?) was overwhelming, horribly strong- it was like someone was shouting in their head, but never rising above a whisper, above a soft sound in Jesse's ears that was both the loudest thing Jesse had ever heard and the quietest.

Focusing on the chanting was like trying to write down an essay while listening to someone singing- Jesse had to focus on what they were saying, what they were thinking, trying not to let the voice burn into their ears, burn in so deep that Jesse lost their own words...

Reuben gave a squeal, snapping Jesse to the present, but they didn't dare take their eyes off of the light emitting from their fingers (even though they had to squint to avoid going absolutely blind) or pause to whisper thank you, for fear of the light faltering and the negative energy surging over them in return.

The thing was starting to dissipate, its entire body looking like a translucent piece of glass, nothing more than smoke and pure energy that was beginning to split up, enough that it turned into hundreds of thousands of atoms that couldn't be seen anymore.

Hopefully Ivor would just wipe it out later on, if it was still here.

Hopefully they'd done enough.

Here... with us... soon...

Jesse had almost finished when the words finally strung up into something coherent.

The chant faltered, smoke curling and vanishing into the air from the mass of negative energy, smelling akin to scorched flowers and blazing wood being mixed into some weirdly sweet (actually it was disgusting and Jesse was resisting the urge to throw up) scent.

"Wait, what do you mean-?"

It was gone, the only lingering remnants of it the scent pervading their nose and the feeling of a sudden lightness on their chest, as if something had been dragging it down without Jesse realizing.

Jesse stared at the empty cell, trying to understand what it had meant in the few moments they had before they passed out.

Where was here? Did it mean in this cell? Trapped in a small box, in a city that was essentially a prison?

(A prison disguised as a city?)

No, because it seemed to have been talking from somewhere else- like it was just a tiny part of a hive mind, and the main culprit was lingering somewhere else. Was it connected to something somehow?

Was it connected to the negative energy behind the doors of Jupin?

Jesse stared at the empty cell and tried to find the answers as darkness pulled them under, but all they could see was a small room where enough hatred had festered to feed that monstrosity.


A/N: Interesting.

No the negative energy is not PAMA, before you ask.

Also I kinda resumed Hybrid/Composite by lumping Composite into Hybrid fjks;a so that's a thing. Might start alternating chapters.

Responses to reviews!

Parakeetlover3: Not this chapter, but later on.

472115: Hehe x3 Jesse is smol

TheAmberShadow: Probably not haha. / Not related to Purple Guy... well probably not lolol / ;3

Toni42: Yeah, the poor Warden's just dealing with all this nonsense lolol

DubstepDragon14: He might have a cameo; he's not that big of a character. / I would be in the Sunshine Institute since I fold down corners of books. To be fair the only time I used to have to read was at dinner, so I didn't exactly have bookmarks at the time haha. / I have not heard F sharp haha

DarkbeastDend: Ye

x.X. A.L. X.x