Purging the Evil

There was something about combat that just pushed all of her doubts and fears aside and as the blonde haired warrior dispatched more foes, the more comfortable she seemed to feel. There was no real job that she had been sent on, she had simply heard that the village in question had been overrun by wicked creatures. That was most certainly true and the bodies of the zombies all around her was a testament to that. She had carved through them, her dual swords blazing with the powers of ice and moonlight and even now there was no sign of either them or her stopping. In truth, the cursed woman had simply become so tired of just moping in her room that she had to do something constructive. In general, she felt better when she had joined the guild but there were still times where the self hatred crept it. Kalama did not know if she would ever be free or if she was permanently doomed to feel or more accurately not feel much of anything. Still, it had its up points, she supposed.

Leaping towards another nocturnal beast, Kalama would easily flash through its rotting body, causing it to shriek and collapse to the ground in a heap. There was no moment of pause or reflection and the statuesque blonde was swiftly moving onwards, slashing left and right in a barrage of attacks that annihilated all those around her. It was just so easy but it mattered not. What mattered was the slightest hint of satisfaction, or something akin to that, which crossed her mind as she fought. All she could do was use her cursed gifts to the best of her ability and become the solemn warrior of justice that seemed to be her only option. It was all that she seemed to be able to do anymore, as any attempts at being sociable always ended up in failure. Honestly, she had given up altogether and simply remained alone. Of course, she was as close as ever to Aoi but besides her, who could she call a friend? She was just so uncomfortable around other people that it was as if she was just meant to stay away from others.

As another creature fell, a sigh would escape her lips. Even now, in the middle of battle, the depressing thoughts were building up once more and the self hatred was beginning to build. It was so frustrating and all she could do was to keep going, annihilating everything that moved around her. There were no living beings of course and so it was the perfect place for her to embrace her inner loathing. There was no threat to anything besides the zombies and destruction was all that they truly deserved.

All that could be heard was the sound of her attacks and the horrifying screams of the vile monsters as the blonde sent them to hell where they belonged. One lone figure, dressed in black and red, against the forces of evil.

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Another slash, another screech and as another zombie suddenly found its leg flying away, it crashed to the ground. Without any hesitance, Kalama would viciously stamp on the head of the creature, sending it back to hell or wherever it had come from. If there was a bright side to things, the blonde would have to admit that since killing Scrooge, things had started to change inside her. Yes, the self loathing and hatred for herself always remained but she finally seemed capable of at least starting to feel other sensations. Her darkest emotions occasionally stemmed outwards, which was both liberating but frightening at the same time. Now that she had become used to having her emotions stifled, she had almost forgotten how to control them when they did emerge. Her own actions against the old man, while warranted, stunned her a bit. The warrior could still remember the sound of his neck breaking, when he had pushed her too far and she could just not shake that image out of her mind. The rage she had felt when he had spoken ill of Aoi had sent her over the edge and her reaction had been one of pure anger.

The horde seemed to go on forever and as Kalama jumped out of the away and unleashed a barrage of lightning at her next foe, she began to wonder to herself if having her emotions unlocked was actually a benefit or not. Once upon a time, she would have danced for joy at having them return but now? She was not sure. Her powers required such control and if she was emotionally compromised, they could end up being a liability. Damn, she just could not seem to win and as her swords of ice and moonlight continued their dance through the fodder, her mind just kept repeating the same thoughts through her mind. It was becoming harder for her to focus on the enemies now and although they were thankfully weak for the moment. No doubt there would be something stronger behind them.

Finally, her sword of ice decapitated the final zombie and taking a moment to pause, Kalama would glance around at the death all around her. The ground was littered with corpses and although she certainly did not feel sympathy for them, she felt something, which was more than she had done in the past.

“What is going on with me?” She uttered, a frown crossing her features.

“Your curse is losing its grip, my young and grumpy friend,” came a sudden reply, seemingly out of nowhere.

Turning around, swords ready to strike, the blonde would find herself faced with an unusual creature. Blue skinned, only two feet tall and clearly ancient by the looks of it. The bring was looking right up at her, having managed to slip passed her magical senses.

“There is no need to be alarmed, I do not seek to cause you harm,” the being went on, his voice clearly masculine, “I have been watching you fight these creatures since you arrived and you are a fascinating specimen.”

“You spoke of my curse. How are you aware of it?” Kalama demanded in reply.

“Your mind is an open book to me, Kalama,” the being answered, “I can easily see inside of it and oh my, you do have such unpleasant thoughts that bounce inside of it. You cannot continue to live like that. Your emotions are all over the place, now that they have been unlocked. You must regain control otherwise you will lose yourself to your own powers.”

“You mean the curse,” the armour clad mage replied.

“No, that is but a hindrance. I mean this.” With a wave of his hand, the being was able to lift all of the corpses in the area and deposit them in a pile a short distance away, with what seemed to be no exertion at all. “I believe that your magic is the same is mine and if that truly is the case then control is vital in order for you to avoid falling into darkness. Your aura is dark, Kalama and if that remains the case, you will no doubt become what you despise most. There is time, however, for that to change. You must find balance.”

“How?” The blonde responded simply.

“Come with me,” he said, beckoning towards her, “There is a conduit of dark magic not far from here. It will draw out your darkest fears and force you to confront them. By defeating them, you will no longer have anything to fear and will find your centre.”

"Very well. Lead the way,” Kalama answered, sheathing her weapons and following the short fellow as he led her away.

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The wise old creature must have led Kalama for a good half an hour before they finally came to a stop. They did not exchange any further words, leaving Kalama to simply stew over what he had said before. Facing her fears had been somewhat of a familiar theme for the blonde in truth, more than once had she seemed to face them but they had never been defeated, simply buried again until later. Would this time be any different? Only time would tell. If she was brutally honest with herself? She kind of wished that it would all just come to an end. The warrior could not live like this forever and the longer than she remained under the curse, the worst it would become. Not just for herself but for Aoi too. She had noticed a change in her friend's attitude too as time had passed, her once outgoing friend becoming more and more depressed and fearful. The sad truth was that it appeared she was becoming more like Kalama herself and the blonde did not wish that on anyone, least of all her closest friend.

Eventually, the duo came to what just looked like a large hole in the ground, the surrounding ground tainted black with darkness magic or that is what Kalama guessed anyway. It pulled at  her at an emotional level and the closer she got to it, the stronger the pull. Like it was tempting her to leap into the gaping maw. It was almost as if she could hear a voice emanating from it, trying to draw out the darkest thoughts from the deepest recesses of her mind. It was horrible and even the usually steady footsteps of the warrior began to slow.

“You can feel it, yes?” The creature finally said, breaking the silence between them. “This is the conduit of dark energy that I spoke about. By jumping down there, you will find yourself tested in the harshest, yet most effective way possible. It will pull out the source of your pain and force you to face it head on. There is no point in hiding anything once you enter, as the darkness will easily peel away your defences like myself when peeling an orange.”

“If I fail?” Kalama replied stoically.

“You will be overwhelmed and become a slave of the darkness itself,” came the reply, “Your mind will shatter completely and you will be little more than an insane lunatic. Your sense of reason will be gone and now that I think about it, those zombies you fought before are a good example of the state you will be in. Recall them for a moment and understand that your fate will be the same as theirs if you fail.”

“Hardly comforting,” Kalama responded.

“Comforting has never been a word to describe you, has it?” The creature replied with a laugh. “Know this though. If you should succeed in completing this trial then you will be on your way to rediscovering what it means to be human again. Those doubts and fears that hold you back will vanish and disappear. Your curse will not be lifted but you will at least be able to properly live with it. Who knows? Perhaps you will finally come to admire the woman that you see in the mirror instead of feeling resentment towards her, hmm?”

After a few moments of thought, Kalama would draw her ice blade once more and walk to the precipice of the hole, staring down into the darkness. “If I should lose my mind and become nothing more than a drooling beast, please finish me, as I cannot bear the thought of living that way. It has been difficult enough as it is.”

The being nodded his head sagely, “As you wish, Kalama. Should you fall, I will also give notice to your guild, saying that you died with honour. It is the least I can do. Do not worry. Either way, your suffering will end today..”

“...Thank you,” the blonde replied, before taking a deep breath and jumping into the darkness below. The moment she did so, Kalama could instantly feel the pull of the darkness increase by what felt like ten fold, the fear and self doubt already beginning to try and punch its way through her resolve. All she could do was grit her teeth and try to prepare for what was to come.

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It was horrible and what started as just probes against her resolve seemed to turn to spears, penetrating through her mental defences and trying to draw out every negative emotion she felt. All the fear, all the loathing, all the mindless rage. The drop seemed to go on forever and as the mental torture continued, her sword arm began to shake from the sheer strength of the emotions that were starting to overcome her. Her mind became flooded with the memories from her villages again, as they had during the fight with Scrooge. She saw every husk of what had once been her fellow villagers, every crop that suddenly turned to dust and worst of all, Aoi, half way through her curse, unconscious on the ground. She could remember the pain that she had felt when it had struck her, turning her into the abomination that she was now. Cold and empty. The memories caused her to shut her eyes in desperation, trying to shut them out but there was no escape.

With a grunt, she would finally hit solid ground and in her half mad state, would start to sprint, sword ready to strike at anything that moved. The darkness was so difficult to pierce and as she stumbled along, the path seemed to become narrower and narrower, giving her less and less space to move but she kept moving. As time passed, she could feel the grip of what felt like ice cold hands upon her body, from the chamber walls, the ground below her, even from above. Hands of fear and dread, trying to wrap themselves around her form, trying to paralyse here. Frenzied, she would hack at them with her sword, cutting them away while desperately continuing onwards. God, it felt like she was running with a ten tonne weight on her back and the longer she ran, the heavier it felt.

Time wore on and after what seemed like a lifetime, the blonde would emerge from the narrow path into a large chamber. It was somewhat lighter in here but as the weary and trembling warrior made for the centre of it, the atmosphere suddenly turned ice cold again. A bolt of black lightning would suddenly crackle from the ceiling and strike the warrior directly, resulting in the most horrific pain that she had ever felt in her life. Knocking her off her feet completely, the warrior would crash to the ground hard but that was nothing compared to the shock that she felt when she finally regained her senses and stumbled to her feet.

For standing six feet away from her was her former self, brown hair, brown eyes. A beautiful woman that Kalama certainly recognised. Her pre curse form. As she stared, her eyes began to water at the sheer sight of her, remembering who she once was. The sight was enough to set her off completely and she wept, for the first time since the curse had been forced upon her. All of the pain just burst forth from her, her sobs loud enough to reverberate around the chamber. The source of her pain was right in front of her, the symbol of her own resentment. She was jealous of her old form, stolen from her by that god forsaken curse.

Her brown haired form turned towards her, so graceful and youthful but she did not utter a word and after a few moments, a wicked smirk crossed her face as she dashed towards the warrior, forcing Kalama to have to roll out of the way.

Her vision distorted by her own tears, the blonde warrior clambered back up to her feet, her blade returning to her hand with a flick of the wrist. Yet, she did not attack, unable to strike her own form and simply waited.

Her brunette haired counterpart, however, had no such reservations and charged forwards, attacking with a barrage of physical strikes. They lacked the power of Kalama’s own but it was the killing intent behind them that stunned the blonde. “Coward,” the brunette hissed, “You have spent this whole time living in misery just because of that curse. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and adapt. Stop focusing on the negatives. Just because your...our appearance has changed, does not mean that our personality has to be. Remember who we once were. I will tell you this, we were stronger than this before. We never let doubt cloud our minds.”

The speed of the combat increased, as did the strength of the brunette’s punches, enough that the blonde had to take a step back. “We are so much less than we were,” she answered unhappily, her sword lacking much in the way of killing intent now, “I cannot even look at us in the mirror without cringing. We are just a shadow now of our former selves.”

“Bullshit!” The brunette version replied, batting Kalama’s sword away before launching a punch that went straight through the blonde’s guard, causing her to cough up blood. Annoyed, the pre-curse Kalama would then throw the current one against the wall of the chamber. “We are stronger now than we ever were before. All these fights that we have been here, all of those people we have saved. We could never have done that before the curse. We always wanted the strength to do what needed to be done and now we can. Stop focusing on the past.” Sprinting over, the brunette would pick the blonde up by the throat and slam her against the wall, “Your fears are only skin deep. I know why you are so afraid of others. You believe that they will judge you based on appearance rather than your heart. It is not true. I am glad that the curse infected us and damn girl, you are not an eyesore, not at all. Accept what has happened and move on. The time has come to grow up and make this curse work for us. If not for us, then do it for Aoi. She is lost and needs us. More now than ever.”

There was silence after that and as the brunette let go of the blonde and stepped back, the result was that both of them were crying at that point. It had all come to a head and just for once, Kalama actually listened to what she was told and finally accepted it for what it was. “I have been a fool for so long,” she uttered, a smile actually forming on the blonde’s face for once.

“Yes, you have but at least now you understand. We are human again. Goodbye, Kalama.”

“Goodbye, my former self.”

With that last exchange, the two would become whole again, phasing into one another and finally finding peace.

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