Dark Skies Ahead

"Tainted... what are you talking about?" I asked Deity. The strands released my body and everything went back to normal, except I could still hear her voice.

"Part of being a Deity is to Corrupt your system. Refusal to do that or to be better interferes with my requirements, so naturally, I don't like Tavian and I don't appreciate your refusal either. Even after helping you this much, you still disobey me." She told me.

"I was here first, you have no right to command my mind to think a certain way. If you don't like it, you can leave my head. I never asked to be a Deity Apprentice anyways." I yelled at her.

"I wish it was that easy. I'm here now and I can't leave, plus, you wouldn't want me to either. I think you should crouch down." She told me. I was confused, but I listened quickly and an arrow flew right over my head and stuck into the ground. Did somebody shoot at me from above? How could she sense that?

The man was killed and thrown down to this low arena I was still standing in, dying on impact after landing on his head. I could feel Deity's heavy smile.

"What are you really? You say a Deity, but what are your powers?" I asked her. She stayed silent.

"You want more...? I help you so often and during your drastic times, and you want more from me?" She asked me. We both knew that wasn't true, she was trying to do something, wasn't she?

I waited about a minute for her to speak again, but it was complete silence. So long as I didn't dip into my Corrupt state anymore, she couldn't hurt anyone around me. That being said, I moved back to regroup with Dante and Ullr.

I walked along a loosely constructed path that led from this arena we fought in to the staircase I could see facing left from the point where I threw my rope down to help others climb up the glacier. I regrouped with the force in the back and saw Xavier, Griff, and Helen all grouped together, administering first aid among our ranks.

"Where's Jeff?" I asked Griff. Xavier instead chipped in.

"He's with Shiro. We gave them a rowboat and told them to wait for us over on Scorched." He explained. That's right... I forgot about Shiro again. Lia would be pleasantly surprised to meet her dog once more, I'm sure.

"Sky! Is that lady gone?" I heard Ullr shout to me. Tavian was back and talking to Dante, who already had bandages over his arms as both of his hands went missing.

"She's not here, no. She's in my head, I don't know how you could hear her as well." I admitted to Ullr. He looked confusing, wiping sweat off of his forehead as he smiled.

"Well, whatever. We kicked ass, Bossman! That man didn't stand a chance against us. Well, where are we heading to next?" Ullr asked me. I thought about current positions with everybody.

Lia was heading to Moonlight with extra stim-shots to help boost her chances of winning, while Carl and Dani headed over to the right flank, presumably where June and Amera would be if Tavian's call was right. If Dante tried to get us from our backs, Amera and June would attack from there as well, if the mass of Orion's soldiers were attacking from the front. Tavian's influence on this army we fought was the only reason we were starting to win.

"Hey, Tavian. Noboki is still watching our backs, right?" I asked him. Tavian nodded. "Ullr, you should group with Noboki. Worst case scenario she needs help, you can be there for her. I'm going to go group up with Lia. Tavian, is that alright?" I turned to him again, but Tavian sat in shock in front of Dante.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tavian asked Dante. The people around him became silent. Everybody in the medical area was now looking at Dante and Tavian.

"Do you not believe me, Tavian? We both know he's capable of something like that. All White Stones know their abilities, after all. At least... ours does." Dante smiled as he looked over at me.

"Yo! Failure! You know what you failed to understand about this war?" Dante asked me. I could feel something wrong in my head. Something was off track. I turned to look in Noboki's direction with fear that froze time. No... there's no way.

"The naïve people of this Isle think there's a sanctuary on the other side of that damn ocean... but there's nothing. Just an Isle full of glass and disappointment... but even still, the worst person isn't on that Isle... he's here." Dante smiled again.

"I'm not afraid of Orion," I told him. Dante seemed... confused.

"Orion isn't just Orion anymore," He told me.

Huh...?

My eyes opened widely as the message appeared in my eyes.

[System Alert! The Sixth White Stone Has Corrupted his System!]

I ran my fingers through the text to see if it was fake. To my complete surprise, it was not. How the hell did he Corrupt it already?! Did I just lose my secret tactic...?

"Sky, is what he saying true?" Tavian asked me. I slowly nodded.

"Orion Corrupted," I said out loud. Everybody gasped in disbelief, they were just waiting for me to confirm it.

[Get Everybody Out of There]

[DANGER DANGER DANGER]

I gripped the left side of my head and looked at Tavian. "The System told me to get everybody out of here! Now! I don't know what's happening!" I drew my sword and stood in the middle of the medical area, looking all around rapidly.

I was using as much of my brain as possible, looking at all corners, all things we missed. Noboki could've betrayed us, June and Amera could've won their fight and arrived here, something was coming... I know it was!

Like a small prick of pain in my forehead, I looked up to see the volcano in the middle of the Isle shaking violently. With that much shaking... eruption is guaranteed. That's what Deity was saying!

"VOLCANO!" I pointed. Tavian looked and even to Dante's surprise, he was confused as well. If that volcano went off, it would reach the ocean relatively fast and stunt us from leaving on the bo-

Wait a minute.

I turned to look at the Volcano again. Something was wrong with that too. The ground wasn't shaking.

If we're floating in space, it's improbable Volcanos could work like that. The ground wouldn't shake, but what magma is within this Isle, and why is it rising?

"Sky, everybody's gone. Let's go!" Ullr tugged on my shirt, but I insisted on staying. Shortly after, black smoke shot up into the air and covered the sun completely. It was dark and cold now under the ash that perfectly covered the sky.

"Yo, what's happening?" Noboki climbed over the glacier separating the two of us and came closer to Ullr and me.

"The Volcano shot out smoke. Are you injured?" I asked her. Noboki shook her head.

"I wanted to see if it was okay to blow the glacier up. Where's Tavian?" She asked me again.

"He left. If nobody is there, it should be okay... why didn't you blow it up already?" I asked her, looking at the switch in her hands.

"I didn't want to make a call I don't have the authority to make. So, he's down the path?" I nodded at her last question as she walked forward.

"Careful, don't want to get hit." She said, waving her hand to lead us with her down the path.

"Bossman, you sure you're okay?" Ullr turned to me, looking at my face while asking me. "Your three marks moved up more." He told me.

I looked into the reflection of the glacier beside me. Without light, it was hard to tell, but I could see what he meant. The mark on the left side of my face was now a few millimeters from my eye.