Chapter 31: Pranu
"Shh!" I said for the millionth time. "Will you guys at least try to be quiet?! You'll wake up the whole camp!"
"Well, sor-ree 'Ms. We'd better get out of here as quickly as we can.'" Carina complained. "How're we supposed to be quick when we're army-crawling on the ground?"
"Use your leg muscles!" Bhavana grunted from where she was on the right. "And why do I get the wet and wormy ground while you guys get the dry ground?"
"Suck. It. Up.." Carina said to her.
"Yeah, whatever." Bhavana harrumphed and rolled her eyes. Signature move, I thought.
"I hate army crawling! I'm going to get my new Abercrombie shirt all dirty!" Eshana complained.
"OH, FINE!" I whisper-shouted. "WE'LL WALK!"
I got up... and felt my leg sink into the mud on Bhavana's side. Just my luck. It opens up for me, but not Bhavana. It closed over me, and I quickly created a water bubble. Almost immediately, the bubble started fluctuating. The mud started to glow green, and evil intent radiated outwards from it.
'What kind of mud is this?!' I thought to myself. Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine. It was as though a thousand black widows were crawling all over me. The sensation grew and grew, and I felt myself getting weaker and weaker. I seemed to be hallucinating. The mud grew a face, with rotten teeth and leaves plastered all over it.
I opened my mouth to scream, but instead the mud broke through my bubble and slithered down my throat. It invaded my thoughts, filling my brain with thoughts as dark as the darkness of the ocean floor. I could feel my personality being consumed, with the face laughing maniacally.
I felt very cold and vulnerable. My powers felt lost in the vastness of this... whatever it was.
Yet strangely, I felt a sense of peace. This was where I belonged. Why had I not realized it before? I belonged here. No more quests for me. Why waste my life ripping out my hair and saving friends? What would my friends give back?
'And if they were really your friends, wouldn't they have saved you, or at least tried, by now...?' the rasping voice whispered.
' You are right,' I thought back.
'So do you know what you ought to do?'
'Yes master. When I am done, my friends will go to their place of righteous punishment, to the pits of Tartarus!'
'That is what I like to hearrrr,' It hissed. 'Now go, young one. Take revenge! Go now!'
My thoughts suddenly didn't seem so dark. Everything it said made sense. What had I been afraid of before. My eyes shot open, and power flowed through me like never before, strengthening me, giving me the power I truly desired and deserved.
I do not know how long I stayed like that. There was the tiniest shred of hope they would save me, prove the face wrong. But they didn't, and my anger multiplied my strength. They had betrayed me.
And they would die. And they would pay... And then, my justice shall be served! To hear their screams would be the appetizer. And for the dessert... I would enjoy seeing them dying in Tartarus, to hear their screams as the monsters ripped them apart.
Oh, yes, I would enjoy that very much so...