Calm Before The Storm

Stella opened the secret door that led out into one of the hallways and the few brutes they did come across were quickly dealt with now that they had some actual gear.

"Where to now?" Wix asked

"I am heading to the meeting area, I would suggest you all leave the bastion and report to your superiors. " Stella responded

"But the elders are likely to be in there, that includes Brad!" Wix exclaimed

"Stop yelling you will attract more attention, and I know that they are there that's why I am heading there I need my stuff back and something tells me that Brad has it, plus I need to take revenge. " Stella said

"Very well, just know that if you ever need help the NSOF (Nether Special Operation Force) will welcome you with open arms."Wix said before leading her 4 people towards the entrance

"We didn't speak much but I heard from the others that you were the reason we are escaping, and for that I thank you. If you ever need something illegal done then head to the Devils Advocate and ask the bartender for Hell's Bells and he will know what to do." One of the former criminals said before leaving with the other.

"Do you think they are aware that they are naked?" A voice asked

Stella quickly turned on her heels to see herself once again.

"How am I seeing you? I thought you could only appear in my dreams." Stella warily said

"Oh come on you cant have seriously thought that being tortured for 3 years would be good for your already dubious mental state." The taint stated, "We both know that you are missing a few screws up there."

Stella ignored the hallucination and continued onwards towards the elders. While making her way back towards the main hall passing by the Brutes they had killed, Stella was trying to ignore the hallucination but the blurring vision and overall weakness she was feeling seemed to grab her attention.

"There is no way you could have thought you were ok?" The taint asked

Stella decided to stay silent at that question continuing to ignore the hallucination

"You actually did think you were ok didnt you!" The taint exclaimed, "You have spent 3 years eating rotting meat for food, you have had the shit beat out of you almost every day, and to get water you have been doing alchemy in your OWN STOMACH!"

"Do you have ANY idea how bad that is for you? Like I know I'm the taint and everything but even I wouldn't do alchemy in my own body!"

"It's not just that either, you have been using my powers rather frequently these past few years to keep yourself alive, and the fact that you can still control your own body baffles me, I should have long gotten control of most of your body by now."

"Moving past your very rapidly declining body what is your plan on taking your stuff back? I highly doubt that even in your prime you could take this Brad fellow an-"

"SHUT UP! I don't have a plan, I just planned to walk in there and figure it out." Stella interrupted

"You know that telling me to stop talking is just going to get me to keep speaking." The taint mocked, "But seriously I know that we don't like each other but If you die here the nethers heat will kill me too, and with you being the only source of taint in this place, I don't quite want you to die."

Stella made it to the door that the elders were behind, and despite what Stella thought there were no guards in front of the doors. She took a deep breath and decided to check what she had at her disposal.

A single netherite ax and about half of the spiders were all that she had. Stella silently cursed to herself about the lack of materials to work with. She had the spiders cover her more sensitive parts while the remaining ones were around her arms creating living bracers.

Right before she was going to enter the hall she heard a voice whisper into her ear and a huge grin formed on her face.

"You want a plan taint?" Stella asked with a maniacal grin on her face

"I do but something about your face makes me want to think otherwise." The taint responded

"Oh I got a plan you will LOVE." Stella said

"Ok then let me hear it." The taint replied

"First off the power you can grant me is based on how much vis I provide correct?"

"Sort of, I can grant power in two different ways, the first is by how much vis you provide, the second is by allowing me to continue to spread in the body. The first is more efficient but very few living bodies have a large enough source of internal vis for it to be efficient. Why does this matter?"

"Well I haven't been doing nothing during my time locked up, firstly is the alchemy I did in my own body. I figured out pretty quickly that doing so destroys the body really quickly. Luckily I have you so I can heal the injures that I sustain while doing it. Of course, normal alchemy is far safer and more efficient but I don't really have those luxuries currently."

"The real question you should have asked was where do I get the materials to perform alchemy"

"Hold on a second where DID you get the essentia to do alchemy?"

"The eye of vis was the reason I was able to, I had a theory for quite a while but I hadn't tested it because I didnt know whether or not it would kill me. My eye is a Full Node, so I thought I could pull vis out of it like I could a normal node, It hurts like hell but it does work."

"Pulling vis and pulling essentia are different things though you can pull vis out of a node easily, but essentia is a different story how did you do that?"

"Well the efficiency is absolute garbage but you can condense vis into essentia, although the rate is like 100:1 so not something I would do normally. I do think however you know what I want to do though."

"You want to use a large amount of vis to artificially inflate your stats don't you?"

Stella smiled and nodded

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Word Count: 1086

Almost to freedom! Suggestions and power stones are always welcomed!