The illusion (2)

Presently the chief is dancing around to the sound of the piano player. He had looked like a school of fish caught in the riptide. The movements he made seemed very energetic but rough in the edges.

Mari saw this at the corner of her eye as she was contemplating the situation and deciding on what she would want to do. The directions were clear but having to kill someone was something that she didn't want to take up as an easy task.

This was a little hypocritical on Mari's part because as she thought about this situation she had brief images of the massacre that occurred in the other smaller village where she witnessed the murder of countless people.

Mari also had to wonder if this really was an illusion because of the strange context that Vola displayed as her request seemed to have come from the deepest corners of her heart.

What Mari didn't know was that the truth was something she wasn't not allowed to know about yet. Mari was still only a general candidate and this title afforded her little wiggle room to ask any questions about the goddess and her actions. Mari was and her new title was shy of being a nobody, somebody that would have been on the sidelines as other people could have been going through this situation instead of her.

"I need to focus. The end of the trial is right here. This over sized meat bun shaped man is getting me distracted. I need to think about it." Mari said under her tongue as she looked back and forth at the chiefs and the three villagers who were covered.

Mari thought about this illusion and shut out the other distractions. She cut out the dancing fool, the three villagers, and the piano player. She thought only about the trial she was faced with. This was a hard thing to do given that she was too tired to have made her first step when she arrived here.

As she thought deeper and deeper about the meaning of this trial she began to slip in her train of thought. It was as if the black energy that was engulfing her body was slowly seeping inside of her mind.

Mari found herself going deep into her mind, something that was like a dream. It was almost as if she had fallen asleep.

Around her was darkness. Her body felt light and her thoughts seemed to have been easier to track. She was in reality becoming closer to the will of the goddess and the truth.

"You know that the condition of falling asleep is death?" Vola appeared from the darkness surrounding Mari and said.

"Did I fall asleep?" Mari asked as she tried to look around in the darkness.

"You did Mari. The goddess expected this much." Vola said.

What Mari didn't know was that the piano player was playing a melody written by the goddess herself. The melody was sweet and spelt death. It put Mari to sleep without her noticing because she was so focused in her own thinking.

The melody continued to play in Mari's drifting consciousness. She slipped deeper and deeper down the dark abyss as the melody continued to lull her asleep.

"So then I should be expecting to die?" Asked Mari as she felt her body relax from the fatigue she built up.

"Yes. You will die." Vola said with no hint of emotions.

"I won't be able to see you again, Kai. I'm sorry I couldn't be as strong as you." Mari whispered as she closed her eyes and fell asleep thinking about Kai.

"Continue to slip down the dark side of death, General." Vola said as Mari's consciousness started to fade.

Mari felt at ease but focused on the loss she will experience as she thought about the moment she met Kai.

Their first time meeting was during her last sword art competition, where she lost horribly to Kai. He was the only one to push Mari as far as he did, Mari had been amazed with the elegance and beauty in his sword swings. In the moment his sword swings looked like brush strokes to a bloodied canvas. It seemed as if his intentions were to show her the difference in power between them.

Those memories is what Mari had been focused on as she continued to fall deeper into the darkness she found herself in.

"What will happen to Kai?" Mari asked Vola as tears began to drop slowly from blinking.

"Kai will feel the connection between you two change. The prophet will experience a painful death." Vola said as she watched Mari fall from the sidelines.

Vola was able to look inside the mind of Mari and saw her fall in the darkness. She seemed to be able to see her as if she was only watching from the sides.

Mari began to feel the energy that disguised itself as a dark fog begin to disappear. She opened her eyes and wiped away the tears flowing from them. Mari looked around as her body began to stand upright.

"Congratulations General. You fell asleep and now have to pay the debt you owe." An echoing female voice said as Mari felt her clothes grow weightless.

"Are you the goddess?" Mari asked as her clothes were stripped from her.

The echoing voice was melodic and relaxed Mari from the core. It was better to imagine that the voice had a strong control on the core of Mari and her life force.

"I am your god." The voice sang.

"Can you tell me if Kai is going to be okay?" Mari tried to yell but found herself complete relaxed under the spell of the goddess.

"Focus on what's in front of you." The goddess said.

Mari felt the energy surrounding her life force begin to expel outward. The dark energy began to stretch and the closer it was to Mari the brighter it got. From Mari was a bright and shining energy, this was her original life force. The dark energy was stretching this out of her body and engulfing the once bright life force that came from Mari.

"You will die." The goddess sang as the last bright energy that came from Mari was engulfed in darkness.

"Thank you goddess." Mari slipped out of her tongue and replied.

Mari was naked and felt her body begin to tingle from the dark energy penetrate her core.

Mari was surprisingly relaxed and felt as if her death would be a peaceful one. She had relaxed deeply into the sensation and began to clear her mind.

The dark energy swirled around Mari and whisked around her. Mari was completely engulfed in the dark energy that took her life force away from her.

"It will be a long death, but until then you will serve as my general." The goddess sang as if she finished the spell that was controlling Mari.

In this flash of a moment Mari appeared slowly from the dark energy, she was different from before.

Mari's red eyes pierced from the dark energy. The swirling dark energy that flowed around her started to pool closer to Mari's naked body and kiss her skin closely.

Mari took a step forward out from the flowing dark energy. The dark energy began to create clothes to cover up her naked body. The form it took was closely similar to leather armor that had an artisan message.

It was as if her armor wanted to say to any onlooker "a glimpse deeper and you find yourself falling, just like the sweet kiss of death".

The leather like armor covered all the important parts but left many spots of Mari's body revealed. Her hips popped out from the armor as if the artisan wanted to make the message clear.

The dark energy spread to the back of Mari and formed dark encrusted wings that seemed to spill out far and wide.

"Thank you for the chance you gave me." Mari said as the dark colored hair she had began to decay into a deep white.

Mari had just entered a contract with the goddess of the undead to serve as the sole general of her undead army. This title was not well known but within this transformation Mari felt an abundance of knowledge encircle her mind.

"You're still far from the General I was." A voice whispered in her ear.

The voice she heard sounded a lot like her own. It was more sweet and melodic than her own but she knew immediately that this was her voice.

Mari was relaxed and kept her composure as she realized that this voice was another version of herself.

The voice of a different Mari acknowledged the Mari that emerged from the darkness.

"Take your knee and wish to serve her well." The voice of a distant Mari commanded.

Mari unconsciously took her knee and looked down.

"Yes, I know you will do well General. Now go serve me proudly." The goddess said.