Corrupted Potential

--Xian's Perspective--

Zeal led us up over by the Corrupt Stone's position, telling us to halt in the forest on the edge of a bay.

"Why here? Let's just go up to them directly and get him." I asked him while peering out to the water.

Zeal shook his head, "Don't forget, the only person who can kill the White Stone isn't here. We have to indirectly do it." Zeal pointed to the ice sheet on the bay.

"Demos… can you inhabit that ice? Or can you only create it?" Zeal asked him.

Demos shrugged. "We'll have to find out." He said.

Demos put his hand on top of the ice, and we could see strands pulsate through a small cube of ice in front of him. He pulled it from the ice sheet, and it floated in his hand, slowly spinning clockwise as he analyzed it.

"I didn't know I can do this… Zeal, what are the conditions for this? Why do Strands permit me to create ice?" Demos asked Zeal. I turned to Zeal as well, wondering why I was able to store and transfer kinetic energy.

"I'm not entirely sure, but my theory is that these Strands are in the atmosphere and can touch anything else in the atmosphere as well. There's water vapor in the atmosphere, there's potential energy that can be converted to kinetic energy, that's all I could possibly assume about these Strands. No matter their origin, we just have to use the abilities we were given so we can take down this Corrupt Stone." Zeal explained.

I adjusted my body and leaned up against a boulder on the beach, staring out at the frozen-over bay. I began to remember my time as a White Stone on this Isle when I first woke up. It was only five years ago, but it felt like yesterday. I remember having the people around me all question my White Stone and even encountering a sliver of corruption myself. I quickly stopped when I felt the pain, but every time I thought about the Corrupt Stone, I wonder what pushed him past that pain...

Several people I used to know and love died in front of me because of that pain, and it only made it worse every time it happened. I never had a White Stone to help me. Orion still held control over this Isle when I woke up, but he didn't care about me, kind of like this current Corrupt Stone. Orion would've never intervened if it weren't for Zeal's offer of slaves.

Something else bothered me constantly about Zeal's determination to stop this pour fourteen-year-old boy. He's so hellbent on killing him for 'Corrupting' his system, but why does it matter that much? Zeal was never present on this Isle; he didn't try to meet this White Stone. After six months he finally met me, but he just hasn't made any effort for this one. It bothered me.

Talking to Zeal about it would only put me in a battle of strict wordplay. Zeal only breaks down what I say and makes it sounds stupid and doesn't listen just because I'm a 'kid', which gets under my skin even more. He's not even right, he's just louder.

But what finally pushed me over to start thinking about this White Stone is the pain he had to have experienced to pass System Corruption. The System makes it very obvious we shouldn't Corrupt, but this one did it, for what? What about him made him so powerful that he bypassed that pain that paralyzes us?

I sympathized with him, and I'm sure the reason Talion hasn't killed the White Stone yet is that he does too, but this can't be explained to Zeal. Zeal is a control freak because of his Flaw, it can't be helped, but at a certain point, the hellbent attitude on killing a child is starting to make me think that he's the bad guy after all.

Again, he would never understand this. His wordplay would just turn the other White Stones on me, and I'd be indirectly killed next. What kind of life do I live if that's the end result? So much for being naturally born, charismatic leaders, right? All we do is follow Zeal's lead… which irritated me quite a bit.

"Remember your Flaws. Xian, you can't witness an injury that causes scars, so be careful." I turned to Zeal after he explained and slowly felt myself losing my composure.

"Say… I worry about you sometimes, Zeal." I told him. Orion looked up to me, he and I were on the same wavelength, weren't we?

"Why's that? You're the stupid kid I have to babysit." I pushed myself off of the boulder, putting my hand against it and using my strands to inflict as much damage as possible.

"I'm just a stupid kid? I think we should just focus on the task at hand right now, shouldn't we?" I yelled at him. Zeal turned back towards the bay and Orion kept looking at me. I shook my head and Orion looked away from Zeal.

"I see him. He's moving in." Elo commented. It's insane to me that he's still wearing that damn blindfold.

"Demos, do you have a grip on this bay?" Zeal asked, but Demos shook his head. "Only a small portion of ice in the middle, if we can direct his footsteps over to it, I can drop him in and quickly cover it." Demos said.

Him too? Why was he so eager to kill Sky? None of this makes sense to me. He didn't do anything but corrupt his system. Does that really cause an apocalyptic event? My initial thought was to listen to Zeal, but the more I think about the strength he needs to Corrupt himself, the more I wonder about Zeal's true intentions.

Zeal doesn't want him to be alive after Corrupting his System because that means this White Stone has more potential to be powerful, powerful enough to kick Zeal out of the top spot… that's what Orion must've figured out as well. All in all, I don't have enough evidence to prove it, but I had to keep it in mind for now.

"He has carts… and people… he's not in front, he looks to be beside five individuals. Maybe his guards?" Elo commented. He flipped up a small knife and prepared to throw it, meanwhile, Zeal had his arm up, signaling the preparation for an attack.

This was wrong… all wrong. Why were we attacking this poor kid? I felt it more and more as I could see his silhouette walk closer on that ice sheet.

"Go ahead, throw it." Zeal told Elo.

Elo, without hesitation, threw the weapon with such strength that it cleared a cylindrical shape through the fog, straight to him. Right when I thought it was over, the White Stone dodged to the right at the very last second, giving him the opportunity to recover the attack and learn where we were. That feeling we got a month ago… it was back. The staring came from this White Stone.

Damn... it's kind of scaring me...