Chapter 63: Purple Haze
The sinister blade that was supposed to end Zac’s life powerlessly fell to the ground as the general died. Zac mutely stared at the impaled demon, unable to comprehend what was going on. The same seemed to be true for the hundreds of demons who watched the betrayal. They stared blankly at the scene until they were awoken by an angry roar from one of the well-dressed leaders.
Suddenly a murderous air filled the air as multiple demons were screaming and pointing their weapons at Zac’s unexpected ally. The demon stood up from his hunkered position as he looked around at its supposed allies with a sneer. He threw away the corpse of the demon leader like it was trash with a whip of his lance after looting his pouch, and then turned toward Zac with a half-smile.
Suddenly the killer took something out of his pouch and popped it into his mouth. Unsure of what was going on, Zac shakily got ready for another round of battle as he finally scrambled to his feet. The wounds where he was impaled by the lightning blades screamed in protest, but he forced himself to stay upright. He looked at the demon in front of him with a dubious expression, wondering why this man saved his life. Zac’s eyes widened as the demon unexpectedly puked out a huge amount of blackened blood, and fell over to the ground. With a few spasms he lay dead next to the general.
“WHAT?” Zac exclaimed, completely unable to follow the quick turns. Was the man an assassin or a member of a death squad that some rival demon group had sent after the general? But why would they want to ruin their own invasion? From what Zac understood the incursion would close the moment the four heralds and the general were dead.
But he could only put aside his doubts for now, as he was completely wrung out but still surrounded by hundreds of demons. At least they looked shell-shocked by the turn of events as well, as they hesitantly stared at the two corpses on the ground. Zac used this brief respite to quickly take a swig of the azure pond water, the familiar burning sensation quickly spreading through his veins, temporarily muting the blazing pain in his various wounds. He knew he had to treat himself real soon though, as he was starting to feel woozy from blood loss, even with the water strengthening him.
Just as he put away the bottle the assassin suddenly spasmed again, and with a few wretched coughs he rose from the dead. Zac didn’t want to take any chances, and started to advance on the zombie demon.
“Wait human, we are on the same side” the demon croaked as he weakly scrambled to his feet.
Shocked at hearing something else than demonic for the first time since he met Abby, Zac paused and hesitantly stared at the demon. The surrounding demons suddenly woke up from their stupor and started angrily screaming at the assassin again, which was completely ignored by him.
“We don’t have time for a chat human, you should have a cauldron of poison from the imps. Throw the contents into a fire if you want us to survive” he continued.
“Why should I believe you? Why did you kill that man?” Zac questioned, loath to just follow some stranger’s instructions. He glanced around and saw that most of the demons were closing in, except for a few who were taking care of the leftover monkeys.
“It doesn’t matter. Unless you do something we’re dead. Even if you drink the whole bottle of the Cosmic Water your wounds will kill you before you’re out of this valley if you keep fighting.” The demon interjected, having seen through Zac’s original plan of trying to slash himself out with the help of the azure water. An arrow whizzed past Zac head as a reminder he was strapped for time, and he needed to act fast.
After hesitating for a while he decided to comply with the suggestion. He subconsciously knew he wouldn’t make it out, as the only thing keeping him on his feet was the temporary boost from the water. He had held off until now, but it was Hail Mary time.
He brought out the large cauldron, and with a grunt threw it into one of the fiercest fires created by the Herald. The contents spilled out over the fire, and instantly a huge purple cloud, far more sinister compared to what he had seen in the imp Herald’s cave, swelled out. The poison vapors created in the caves had only been from the small fires underneath the cauldron heating the concoction, but this time the poison was actually burned instead of heated up. It looked like it fused with the smoke of the raging fires, and quickly spread outward.
“What now?” he asked as he turned to the mysterious demon.
“Now I wish you the best of luck human” the demon answered with a slight smile as he popped another pill into his mouth. It was a different type of pill from the one that temporarily killed him, giving out a refreshing herbal scent. He then took one step and disappeared into thin air.
Zac got a sinking feeling as he turned back to the cauldron. The fire was spewing out purple gasses in a terrifying volume, and it quickly expanded outward. Judging from the horrified faces of the demons he realized he might have made a big mistake. Not wasting any more time on the enigmatic demon, he madly ran for his life back toward the forest. He stumbled and couldn’t keep a very high speed even powered with the water, and his wounds kept bleeding as he ran for his life. With the mountain winds helping, the poison cloud would likely soon envelop the whole valley judging from its rapid expansion.
Only a few of the demons bothered with Zac after seeing the expanding purple haze, and instead fearfully dashed away from the battlefield, unheeding of any wounded comrades screaming for assistance.
A few of the wounded demons went for Zac with madness in their eyes, bent on taking him with them to hell. However, most of those who had given up fleeing were even more wounded than Zac, and could only helplessly glare at him as he stumbled away fueled by the azure water. An errant arrow hit his back, but Zac only grunted and continued on.
But the cloud moved too fast, and soon it was right at Zac’s heels. As he ran he took out a rag from his pouch and put it over his mouth, hoping it would at least provide some protection against the approaching cloud.
Just before the cloud overtook him, he took one last deep breath of fresh air. Soon after the world turned purple, and a stinging sensation made his eyes tear. He couldn’t see very far ahead anymore but could only keep moving forward as long as the air in his lungs let him. He madly dashed as quickly as his broken body allowed toward where he remembered the closest peak to be. Still, he knew it would take over 30 minutes at his speed to get there, and even then he might not be safe.
The wounds of his body seemed to be entrances for the poison as he started to get nauseous even though he kept his breath so far. After a while he couldn’t hold on any longer and was forced to inhale a lungful of poison. He immediately started getting extremely woozy, his power quickly leaving his legs. The strength of the poison truly was on another level compared to the fumes down in the Herald’s cave.
As he started despairing over what to do the familiar sight of the magical pond entered his vision. He lacked the luxury of having time to think things through, and immediately jumped into the azure water. He would have to risk meeting a pond monster, as even a few more breaths of that poison would kill him.
He planned on swimming down to the bottom of the lake and hopefully find a passage down into the mountain. Since the water was crammed full of cosmic energy Zac guessed it was connected to the crystal mine somehow. But he only managed to swim for 10 seconds deeper into the pond before his whole body felt like it was on fire. It was the water, as it seeped into his body through his wounds, and perhaps even his pores.
The heat quickly became unbearable, but it only kept building up. Meanwhile, his insides were churning from the poison, only adding to his misery. Zac’s whole body started to swell up, and in seconds looked completely bloated. His whole skin was red and if he wasn’t underwater he’d likely be steaming from the heat.
Zac felt hopeless and desperate. It was heartbreaking to think that he actually managed to defy all odds and beat the incursion, only to end up in this situation. He had killed the four heralds personally, and even helped set the stage for the general’s death by destroying all his protective treasures and forcing him to expend all his energy in the fight. Almost two months of ceaseless life-and-death struggles, only to explode from over-ingesting super-water.
Completely unreconciled, Zac made one desperate attempt to survive. He grabbed one of the fruits from his pouch and tore into it with his teeth. An unimaginably sweet taste exploded in his mouth and made him almost forget that he was dying. It was by far the tastiest thing he had ever eaten, and it felt like he was munching on something that gods feasted on in ancient stories. As he swallowed it a fresh cooling sensation entered his body, immediately sweeping the poison away.
He devoured the fruit completely apart from some juices that leaked into the water, completely frenzied from the taste. He even accidentally swallowed some water with the fruit as he forgot himself from the otherworldly deliciousness. The cooling sensation spread throughout his extremities as he feasted and actually started combating the burning sensation from the magical water.
Zac was relieved as it looked like his gambit had been successful. But the relief didn’t last for long as his body quickly started to go from blazing hot to freezing cold, over and over again in quick succession. Two forces were fighting for supremacy, and the ravaged battlefield was Zac’s body.
Even though he was underwater he couldn’t stop himself from desperately screaming in pain, with even more water filling his lungs. He couldn’t even register it as the pain was all-consuming, far worse than getting burned or stabbed in his chest. With every change in his body, it felt like his cells were melted down into a puddle, then frozen solid again by the freezing cold of the fruit.
Zac sensed that his spirit could collapse at any moment, and every second felt like an eternity for him. Soon he couldn’t take it anymore and brought out a dagger from his pouch. With his last energy stabbed it toward his throat, hoping to quickly end the suffering.
The dagger tore into his throat and then sunk to the bottom of the lake as Zac let go with relief. He felt a sting of shame when thinking of his family that he never was able to save, but he felt they would understand if they knew what he was going through.
But the sweet release of death didn’t arrive. The wound closed with visible speed and soon his neck was as good as new. Zac despaired, not knowing what to do. His body wouldn’t listen to his commands anymore, and his brain was overtaxed by the pain signals bombarding his synapses.
The continuous changes in his body kept on going uncaring about Zac’s plight. Finally, his eyes rolled up into his head as he passed out into blissful darkness, and as he fainted his body slowly kept descending into the depths.
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