Chapter 69 - The Orb Of Domination

Me and the other me both jumped to the side as we dodged a tendril that was composed of red and black energy. I was going to attack the tendril but soon after it struck there appeared 2 more that shot out of the big one. It seemed like whatever that orb was, it could attack almost instantly by creating more tendrils. I had to back away but was still struck by a lucky blow that glanced off my scales, but when I looked down at where it struck I was shocked to see the scale rot and fall off. 

"VEXSUS, DON'T LET THE TENDRILS TOUCH YOU THEY HAVE A ROTTING ATTRIBUTE!"

"GOT IT JUST BE CAREFUL!" 

I yelled out the valuable information not daring to take the time to see how he was doing. I could only just barely dodge the attacks while a few still made contact with me. I knew I couldn't move fast enough but I had to do whatever I could to stay alive, So I let it hit me but this time at the point of contact I activated my tried and true buff. 

My body became electrified as the scales started producing electricity that zapped back and forth between them. As soon as the tendril touched me a zap of lightning shot through it and it dissipated. I smirked as I found a way to fight back, only to hear a deep thooooom sound that echoed in the very depths of my mind and shortly afterwards my electric scales died down. Whatever that sound was it was able to forcefully deactivate my skills.

I decided to join back up with the other me and quickly come up with a game plan, so running as fast as I could I ducked and dodged as many of the tendrils as I could while searching for him. After a few minutes it seemed like I finally found him but was stunned as I saw him getting trapped and entangled by the tendrils. 

"Vexsus, I'm sorry..... I couldn't fight them off." He said shortly before the tendrils completely enclosed his body in what looked like a cocoon that pulsed like a heartbeat.

I didn't know what to do so I just ran towards it and started slashing at it with my claws. They were only causing small scratches that would heal moments later but I kept at it hoping that something more effective would come to mind. I tried countless times to activate my attack skills, I tried my lightning slashes or my space bullets but nothing would work. Every time I tried something would happen in that split second that would completely disrupt my thoughts and force me to start over. It was like something in my head was going haywire at the same time as my body was starting to get sluggish. I knew I was nearing the end of my reserves.... Between getting hit by the tendrils that would rot away my scales and flesh, to the over exertion that I was forcing my body to go through in trying to rescue Vexsus from that weird cocoon. 

It wasn't long after that that one of the tendrils grabbed and held onto each of my legs and brought me closer to the orb floating above us. As I got closer I could hear a faint thumping sound, after a couple seconds it would go, Bubump-bubump. It would repeat that same sound every couple seconds almost like a heartbeat.

"What are you.... Why are you doing this to us?" I asked the red and black orb that sounded like a heart. I had a grave feeling that this might be it but I atleast wanted to know who or what was going to kill me.

"I..... AM... THE ORB OF DOMINATION... I WAS PLACED IN THIS VESSEL TO ONE DAY GAIN CONTROL WHEN YOU WERE AT YOUR WEAKEST AND DESTROY YOUR CONNECTION TO THE SIN OF GLUTTONY." 

I was confused, why would it try to sever my connection that mind you I just gained back. After all this time while I had lost my connection with gluttony and had gone feral while the other Vexsus took control, why did it start now of all things? Why did it wait until I was just getting back to my friends and family to try this?

"Why now? Why wait until now to do all of this. You had a whole year to try and take control of me. So explain, if your going to kill me you can atleast tell me that much, why did you wait for so long."

"I can answer that my dear Vexsus." Said a voice from behind me 

I turned my head to see a bright greenish light shine for a moment as a figure walks our of the light. It was a female that had long black hair with purple and green highlights that were tied in pigtails. Her body was curvy in the right places if not a little more. She wore a dress that came down to her shins that was designed to look like green and purple flowers of all kinds. Some were roses while there were also daisies, and sunflowers and even dandelion puffs, except they were all various shades of green and purple just like her hair highlights. It was a bit weird to say the least but besides that I was more concerned about why this woman had the answer.

"OK??? And who are you?" I asked with a very obvious tone.

She looked at me with a face that was covered in surprise. "UGH, Your telling me you don't recognize me? I'm hurt Vexsus, I mean really I give you all this power and you just up and disappear for a whole year, I mean I couldn't contact you or anything, I had to rely on the secondary connection you made to Sondar for me to even find out about what happened to you."

"I was happy when I suddenly felt our connection again but then it was shortly dissolved and I felt a wave of powerful Pride energy. So I used up alot of my reserved energy to transport myself here only to find that you were almost about to be devoured by such an orb of domination. You do know that this thing is a parasite right? You must have been infected by oh..... Atleast almost a year for it to have grown this powerful." 

She spoke all this before waving her hand slightly towards the orb and then out of nowhere a huge mass of greenish fog covered over the orb and all the tendrils were dissolved and as a result the cocoon that held the other Vexsus disappeared revealing his unconscious body. I ran over to him and checked on him to make sure he was still breathing.

"VEXSUS...VEXSUS WAKE UP MAN COMEON STAY WITH ME." I slapped him a couple times to try and wake him up. I didn't quite know where to look for a pulse so I just stuck my paw near where his heart was to try and feel the beat. After a few seconds I could feel a very faint bump but it was getting weaker and caused me to start panicking. I didn't want him to die as I didn't know what effect that would have. Plus after realizing that after all this time he was the bodies original owner, I felt the need to keep him alive so I could make it up to him. 

I looked towards the woman that had just arrived only to see her walking up towards the orb. I mean she was ascending through the air but by walking, it was a weird sight but what happened next was even more shocking. 

I saw her go up to the orb and through the barrier like fog she reached out and touched the orb. It emitted such a god awful screech almost like it was in pain as I noticed a faint light that originated from her palm start to spread throughout the orb, whatever she was doing seemed to be overtaking the orb before eventually the orb was radiating an aura of purple and green instead of red and black. 

She then turned towards me and quickly floated down. "Here let me help." She said as she placed her hand on his body and the same light appeared but this time throughout his body appeared green veins that pulsed faint and weak at first but as time passed the pulse became stronger and stronger until suddenly he breathed in deeply like he hadn't had a breathe of air in a long time.

"There, he should be fine now just need to let him rest. But now I need to talk to you Vexsus, so follow me." She said as she sat down in the air and onto a chair that popped into existence.

"That orb was one of the many tricks that the sin of Pride uses to gain followers. He brainwashes them to obey his commands and in return they gain weakened versions of his power. I was lucky and got here in time but there may still be a part of that brainwashing inside of the both of you so from now on I will be keeping a close eye just to make sure." 

She just kept talking and talking but she still didn't say who she was even though by the way her powers looked I had a very good guess.

"So gluttony, This is how you really look.... Hmm not bad." I said while I touched my chin like I was admiring art.

She was smiling but then soon she stopped and rubbed her hand on my cheek. 

"Vexsus.... I'm sorry I let this happen to you. I just didn't think that the others were this determined to destroy me that they would go this far as to try and take you away from me. The creature you call Digger is a creature that Pride had sent to stop you, he planned this so long ago but this orb was not from Digger. Think back was there anybody else that you had physical contact with that showed signs of being prideful? It could be anybody your friends or family even."

I tried to think of who could be the culprit but was suddenly I smiled wryly as the only person I had physical contact with in the last year came to mind. "Yea well, she's dead now but yea, her name was Antasia. She was a queen ant who had gained a humanoid figure. Digger took advantage of my feral state and had somehow made me mate with her to produce a hybrid of ant and dragon."

Gluttony seemed disgusted at the thought and even took her hand away from me like I was some kind of monster. I was saddened by that but I understood, I wouldn't want to associate myself with a monster either.

"That.... That is unsettling." She said as she stared into my eyes. "I can tell that you didn't mean to do that. But nonetheless it happened. How did she die?"

"Digger killed her, she was kneeling next to him after she killed all but 100 of the remaining hybrids.... Gluttony, those hybrids, Even if they are the result of my horrendous action.... I couldn't just abandon them. I did the best I could to help raise them in the few moments of clarity I had... Oh man I just remembered..... That Vexsus over there said that he was the one that was gaining control while I was going feral. Does that mean that he was actually in control when all that happened?" I suddenly remembered him telling me that, I was a bit angered when that realization hit me but ultimately what happened happened, I could only live with the result and move forward.

She only nodded before speaking again. "Vexsus you may have done something bad but unfortunately I am running out of energy to stay here. I have to go back and rest, I don't know how long it will take before I can speak to you again so this is my last words to you for now. I want you to keep getting stronger, I want you to leave this cave and explore the world. The outside world is in disarray right now. The invasion of the Shadow  Eaters has come and reports of entire villages close to the mountains being destroyed are already making the weaker species panic. I need you to fight in this war, I feel something awful is fixing to happen to this world and this invasion is only the opening act."

She soon got up to leave as a flash of green light appeared like a doorway. I could only watch as she walked through it before turning around to smile at me one last time.

"Be careful Vexsus, I only have enough energy to counteract the pride that invaded your body. Other than that I will be in deep sleep until you can provide me with enough energy to reawaken."

The door of light slowly closed as the last images of her faded out and my mind started to darken.