“I think he’s happy,” Jaysen said to no one in particular. He felt Tanis move beside him, the giant beast always close at hand. He could not see her - could not see anything - but felt the rough texture of her fur or the smooth feathers of one set of her double wings; the other had rough scales and thin membranous skin between the joints. She was an odd creature, but she was all his. They understood each other.
The sound of footsteps took Jaysen’s attention. He inclined his head over his shoulder toward the sound of each soft footfall and sighed.
“Again at the pool,” Xandrix said, his voice rough and loud enough to echo across the vast underground city.
“If you spent longer than thirty seconds inside that stupid manse, you’d appreciate why I like it here better,” Jaysen replied. He felt the other man’s presence, the natural heat from his body and the smell of him even if the steps came to a stop. The cave was silent once more. Though, to call it a cave would probably be wrong since it was so large, but as Jaysen had no real basis for comparison, cave worked just fine.
“Pass,” Xandrix grumbled. “You’ve been summoned.”
“Pass,” Jaysen smirked, copying the other man’s vernacular just to gall him. Jaysen remembered how much the former soldier fought against what was done to him. Some fought, others begged, and still others just gave up. Xandrix fought - hard. He had managed to kill several of Daemodan’s soldiers and some of the hell beasts that were sent to hunt survivors or clear out the under-city. In the end, Daemodan won, Corrupting Xandrix right along with a handful of others that survived. Of those, there were four, maybe five left that were not drooling husks. And then, of course, there was Roth who was an entirely different story.
“Daemodan said-”
“I don’t care what Daemodan said, Xan,” Jaysen said. “If you’re here, that means he has another Vessel to play with. I’ve been present for enough Corruptions and those Corruptions make my insides twist up funny. I’ll stay here, thanks.”
Xandrix did not argue. They both knew what was coming. Despite his Corruption, Xandrix was and remained a hunter. Jaysen’s job, his sole purpose was to find the Vessels and their respective Nodes. It was not a difficult task in and of itself, but it was one he was beginning to question of late. It felt wrong to ruin something so beautiful and pristine. Once the Vessel and Node were found, it was Xandrix’s job to track them down, to hunt them like cattle and bring them to slaughter. His presence meant he’d succeeded. Who the poor bastard was didn’t matter, not really, though he’d heard rumor of which ones they currently hunted, the ones Jaysen knew: Chere, River, Hikaru, Anna. There was a new one recently Claimed somewhere to the south as well, but the name was not yet known to Jaysen. The Node kept his secrets and that of his Vessel, opting to scream - loudly - anytime Jaysen attempted communication. He let the Node be; for now. They would all fall, eventually.
Jaysen didn’t have to see to know what the evening held. He could already hear the shouts, the pleas, the strangled cries that ultimately ended in silence and bated breath while everyone waited to see if the Corruption took hold or if the poor soul finally gave in to Azrus’s embrace. They’d waited three days for Roth and now the fool was so beyond repair it was laughable. There was not a shred of sanity left. While the Corruption worked, it was not the desired outcome Daemodan was searching for. Roth was unpredictable, dangerous, insane, and positively the single most annoying creature Jaysen had ever come across. Plus, the damage done to the man’s Node was haunting.
Jaysen knew what that was like, being a Vessel himself, but there had been a mistake when he was Corrupted that spared him and his Node a great deal of anguish. The former Speaker for the Phoenix Empire was not so lucky. Roth was a mess and his Node was worse, spreading plague and blight along the lands where she was located. Jaysen felt it as he did with his own Node and the lands surrounding her but Eris was not as bad off as Sofia.
“Are you talking to it?” Xandrix asked, interrupting Jaysen’s train of thought.
“No,” Jaysen answered. “I can’t. He isn’t mine.” “You talk to the others,” Xandrix pointed out, catching the lie. Jaysen’s lips twisted into a smirk. “No, Eris talks to the others,” Jaysen corrected, offering a partial truth for the Corrupted hunter. “They are still connected even if they’ve been turned into monsters like us.”
Xandrix snorted. A rumble from the pool took their attention, Jaysen inclining his head again toward the pool before doubling over in pain.
“Jaysen!”
The Corruption had begun.
***
Demyan stared out the window at the dark, red-tinged clouds building above Sapphire City. He could see people moving within the city proper like ants crawling around in a panic before a flood. They knew what was coming; they were all warned. They were told to take what they could carry and run, abandon their homes,
