Leaving Aionthos [1]

"I knew there was something odd about you. I just never thought it could be something like this." Isaac stood before Fetoh as she stared at him, smiling.

"I'm sorry I had to deceive you. But I can't allow you to live." Isaac stood still, nodding his head.

"Before that, I'd like to give you something." Isaac slowly reached into his pocket.

With rapid movement, he removed a palm sized unbloomed flower that seemed to be bulging and ready to explode.

The smile on Fetoh's face disappeared for a second as Isaac tossed the plant toward her.

With a wave of her hand, the previous mushroom plant stretched toward her, standing before her as a shield as the flower collided with it.

With a loud burst of gas, a grey smoke filled the area around the shield, soon corroding the mushroom into ash.

"To think you'd use my own trick against me. You're trickier than I thought." Looking around, Fetoh witnessed the absence of her prey.

Isaac sprinted toward the elevator, pushing off the ground with all his power as he grit his teeth and cursed himself inwardly.

'Of course! It's just my luck to encounter the ghost of a vengeful crazy lady.'

As Isaac yelled in thought, he noticed countless roots bind together and block the entrance to the elevator.

"Isaac, please. Don't make this any harder than it…" Before she could finish, Isaac yelled.

"I'm not gonna sacrifice myself to make a ghost feel better about her past life. Screw that!" As Isaac yelled, he once again withdrew a bulging flower, throwing it at the roots.

The roots quickly died, dissolving in the gas, however, while the gas lingered, Isaac was drawing closer and closer.

"Damnit!" Using every ounce of strength he had, he leapt off the ground, compacting himself as much as he could and passing through the gas and with a loud boom, he crashed into the elevator.

Wasting no time, he pulled the lever and watched the elevator door slide closed as bangs and booms could be heard from the other side.

Heaving loudly, Isaac was given no time of respite. He slipped out of his large jacket, watching small patches corrode and spread.

"Please don't turn into ash." Isaac said, trying his best to put out the damage as if it were a spreading fire.

The jacket had been with him since day one.

He felt bad enough for taking the skeleton's bones and using them as weapons, but now he couldn't even make use of his equipment with it turning to ash.

As Isaac panicked, the elevator suddenly came to a stop. As he stumbled a little, he heard a voice.

"Isaac, the elevator won't move anywhere but up. Please, accept your fate." Fetoh spoke from an unknown location.

Isaac grabbed his bone sword as he looked around. There was nowhere for him to go. The elevator was dark with solid walls trapping him.

"You must be the only person in existence that tries to kill someone politely." Yelling this, he dug his sword into the wall opposite the lever.

Slowly, the plastic started to crack until it shattered.

Grabbing his jacket and using it as a shield, he stuffed an unbloomed flower inside the wall.

It wasn't long until a release of gas was heard and the crumbling of the wall.

Minutes passed as Isaac made sure the gas had dissipated. The jacket was still intact, however, he didn't know how long that would last.

Peeking over the jacket, he saw the wall now fashioned a massive hole, big enough for Isaac to crawl through.

Quickly slithering through the crevice, Isaac now stood inside a dark large room with countless pillars supporting the dome above.

'I can find a wall and destroy it. But how would I survive the jump down? Without the elevator, I'm stuck here.'

Isaac withdrew an aroze, using it as a light source as he began to walk around, looking for anything to help him in the dark area.

After a minute of mindless wandering, Isaac took a seat.

'Even if I do manage to escape, Fetoh knows where my hideout is.' After a few seconds, Isaac thought of something.

'I need to escape today. I just need to know what path will get me out. I need to take another look from the dome.' Isaac scratched his head.

He was barely able to escape. The whole dome was Fetoh's domain.

With her plants, it was impossible to last even a minute.

His sword skills were a joke and he wasn't nearly fast enough to dodge or endure it.

In that second, a flicker of thought entered his mind.

Isaac stared at the Aroze in his hand, then looked toward the bone sword and finally his arm.

"That's crazy!"

Isaac paused.

"But it's the only way to survive. How do I know it won't kill me? No pain no gain." Isaac started to think out loud, debating with himself.

"Screw it. I can either try now and maybe die, or do nothing and definitely die." Isaac held his sword to his arm, below the shoulder.

Taking in a deep breath and gritting his teeth as hard as he could, it wasn't long until grunting of discomfort turned into screams of pain.

***

~30 minutes later~

The elevator door slid open as Fetoh stared with a smile, ignoring the large hole.

In the next second, Isaac emerged, his face dripping with sweat as he fashioned a forced smile.

He wore his large jacket that seemed to have survived, with both arms to his side.

"The spiral." Fetoh started, pointing toward the ground where the spiral Isaac had seen all over the city was carved in.

"It's the insignia of Aionthos. It signifies a warrior's beginning and end. And despite the struggles they endure in the middle, they never falter, and the spiral's shape never changes."

"Thanks for the history lesson. I'm afraid I must leave now." Isaac walked to one of the windows as he looked out.

"I'm sorry, Isaac. I can't allow you to do that. There's no escaping. Please, accept your fate quietly." Saying this, Isaac could hear the plant life drag across the ground, drawing closer as she raised an arm.

"When I was a child, not a penny to my name or anyone to call friends or family, I learned a valuable secret on the streets." Fetoh paused as Isaac looked onto the city, unmoving.

"The world is unforgiving. I, an orphan, had no place in the world and people around me were sure to treat me that way."

"Therefore, I strove to gain peace. Peace from humans and from the troubles of the world. I did it the only way I knew how to obtain it. Money. And I used the only weapon I had in my arsenal to get it. Lies."

"I was never able to obtain that peace. Not before I was almost killed and sent here."

"But even if I did, what was to say it couldn't all be taken away from me at once. Like it was with you."

"For all I knew, I could have been wasting my time for something that could become meaningless in the blink of an eye."

"Why are you telling me this?" Fetoh asked with a smile and her usual innocent tone.

"Because I might have been wrong about something I was adamant on. So could you. You might be wrong about hating all humans. About them all being scum."

"You were proof of that."

Fetoh's smile disappeared as she stared at Isaac with a blank expression.

"Is this a last ditch effort to attempt to save yourself?" She asked, to which he slightly turned his head.

"Why? Is it working?"

"No."

"Oh, that's too bad. I guess I'll stick with my original plan."

"I've bought myself enough time anyway." Isaac turned around, removing his large jacket as Fetoh's blank expression soon turned into that of rage.

Her eyes widened as she bit her lip so hard it bled.

"What have you done?"

Isaac removed his jacket, revealing his left arm to be completely shrivelled and devoid of any moisture or life.

It had turned completely black, like a scab that was days away from falling off.

"You…You're just like them!" Fetoh yelled as her hair raised into the air and the aura around them turned ominous.

Isaac once again felt as if he were being weighed down by an invisible force and because of his fatigue, he instantly dropped to the ground with his face crashing into the floor.

"Your death will be painful and deserving of your inhumanity…" Before she could finish her words, she noticed Isaac barely turning his head and revealing a cocky expression, grinning widely as a red glow emanated from between his teeth.

Between his teeth, was a blood-red berry with black veins bulging inside of it, a similarly coloured liquid dripping from it.

"Sanguine… Don't!" Fetoh yelled, however, Isaac closed his mouth.

'Please don't die!'

With a loud gulp, it wasn't long until Isaac felt an addicting rush of power.

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Hey, if you're enjoying I'd appreciate the Powerstones. They help a ton.