Chapter 79 - Broken Apart

"V...Ve.....Wa...U..."

I could hear a familiar voice speaking but I couldn't fully make out the words. I swear I know that voice but right now my mind just can't recall.

"Vex....Wake...."

The words are getting clearer now as I start to feel my body almost become weightless.

"Konna.... Kit..ma..NOW!" 

Who's Konna? Kitma? who are these people? My mind is swirling and I start to feel very sick. I try and open my eyes but it's like they already are except the only thing that I can see is a swirling vortex of purple with crackling energy arcing everywhere.

Then I got a vision of the other me that shot out the familiar purple lightning. My breath caught as I remembered his words. 

"You killed your family."

"Be better than you are."

What did that mean? My family is still alive though. How could I have killed them?

I then remembered that he? me? said that there was a war coming. Is he talking about with the Shadow Eaters? Or was he talking about something more sinister? 

My brain was starting to hurt trying to connect the non existent dots and puzzle pieces. Finally the sick feeling I got was to much as my eyes cleared up and I lifted up to puke.

...After I emptied my gut of whatever food I had the world finally snapped back and my mind recalled what happened to me and what was going on.... Then it registered that I was looking at a very disgusted and pissed off fox lady with greenish goo sliding down her body.

"Oh. My. Gods. What the hell did you eat for this to smell so bad, and there's so much of it to holy hell how can your body fit this much." Kitsoma said as she was swinging her hands trying to get the vomit off her hands. 

"Oooohhhh shit, hey listen that was completely on accident. See what happened was that my mind was totally having mental breakdown and I wasn't exactly in control. So when my body decided it was time to throw up I just leaned up and let it go..... Don't be to mad I did just fight off against 3 people at once ya know."

I smiled sheepishly hoping she would let it go and not slap me. 

"Ugh, dammit your lucky this time, but I swear if you throw up on me again I will end you. Your scaly ass will wish you had gone through that crack with them." She sighed and said before huffing and walking off to go wash off.

"Dude..... You fucking launched up like springboard and just napalmed her in the face. That was the scariest/funniest/creepiest thing I've ever seen. I was confused on whether to laugh or cringe."

I turned over to look at Sondar with a 'Your hilarious' look. 

"Thanks for the assist by the way. Couldn't you feel that I was getting sick? You could have easily turned me to throw up in another direction."

He looked at me with confusion. "The hell you talking about? I couldn't feel jack shit from you. It wasn't until you spewed like geyser that I could feel our connection again. It was like you were in another place altogether but your body was in my arms. It was a shock when it snapped back but then the whole 'green goo' breath attack happened and it got pushed onto the back burner."

That was weird but considering what was going on with me I wasn't really up to figure it out.

I nodded in acceptance before going to a nearby stream and washing my body and mouth.

"By the way Vexsus, are you going to explain what I saw back there?"

'Oh damn, I forgot to tell you that he witnessed your Life burn.'

'You prick.' I quickly sent back before turning to Sondar.

"Which part do you want explained?" I asked him as I used my skill [Scales of the Void] to absorb the excess water off me.

He just stared at me with a shocked expression. "Umm. How about all of it fucking starters. For 1, you turned into a giant fucking dragon, I'm sure everybody for a hundred miles saw you. Then all the fog that was around you after those weird ass cracks closed behind the 3 cultist people was absorbed directly into you. Sooo really its up to you where you want to begin aslong as I get the details on what all happened."

I replayed the scene in my head real quick to remember the feelings of everything that occurred before starting in on the explanation.

"Well, first off I have a skill called Life Burn. It lets me gain a humungous boost in power but as you can guess by the name it costs my actual life force to activate. I've activated it once before in the past when I was trapped by the Progenitor of the Shadow Eaters. That was my only way to escape really. But then I used that power to escape from Stoney's last ditch effort to drag me in with them. Then I used the power to absorb all the magic overloaded fog before the split in space got any bigger. It all got absorbed and assimilated by my very soul but the bad part is that it wasn't just magic at that point, it was what was called primordial energy, it was pure space energy. Gluttony helped save me from overloading my soul but she said that something within me would change no matter what she did. I took a risk that has an unknown repercussion but if I didn't than who knows what the space cracks would do if they grew any bigger."

I explained and talked for a few more minutes before having to drink some water and give myself a breather. He was silent for a good amount of time before he spoke again.

"So, what your saying is that..... You sacrificed more of your life for us?" He said as he looked up at me with wet eyes that threatened to leak out.

"Dude, no, ok just no. Don't start that crying shit. I used that power to save myself it had nothing to do with saving your life. I was totally being selfish and that's that. Don't read any more into it than that." 

I hated the whole crying thing and if I could avoid it I would, I didn't care if he or anybody else thought that I was selfish or an asshole if it meant that I didn't have to witness more crying. It's a pet peeve from my days as a human that I couldn't get rid of in my new life. Maybe it was the masculinity that was portrayed in the human society but comeon is anything more annoying than hearing someone sniffle and sob, and then you have the people who snot and don't care about it leaking and just ugh ewwww. No spank you.

"You can lie all you want but I know the truth. Your not the asshole you pretend to be, you're far more caring and will go out of your way to take care of us. But don't worry, we all know how you really are and we know that you hate to admit it... Thank you Vexsus. From the bottom of my heart thank you for what you did." He said with a tear streaking down his face before he turned and walked away.

That bastard, why did he have to say something so heartfelt. It made me fluttery, my heart was beating a little faster and I hated it. I don't like compliments all that well and it's even worse when I get them.

I jumped back into the water to cool off and just be by myself. I swam a little down the stream until I came upon a decent sized swimming hole. It was deep enough that I could transform and still had room to move comfortably. 

I just laid back enjoyed the weightlessness of the water as the current ran across my scales. The noises of nature all around me was so relaxing that before long I started to doze off. I would have fell asleep fully if it were not for the loud crashing and splashes of water coming from just off the bank.

"HEY, YOUTHEREWHODOYATHINKYOUARESWIMMINGINMYHOMEYOUOVERGROWNLIZARD!"

My brain had to take a second to fully understand what was said as I peeked towards whoever the rude think that spoke was. And there on the bank was a giant bipedal alligator. I mean he was huge, he had to of stood atleast 8-9 ft. tall and he was built like a brick shit house. I mean muscles packed like a truckload of cement blocks. 

"Ummmm? You do see that I'm a dragon right?" I asked while steadying myself in the water to look at the alligator monster.

"Yea.... so? look at me I'm a huge I'm close to your height just by standing up. You really think I'm that scared ya scaly fuck. Now again why are you swimming in my house, did you not see the signs saying 'hey this is somebodies home so fuck off?'"

"Nope, because I just woke up from a serious fight with 3 strong bastards looking to kill me and my family, I defeated them by shoving them into another dimension, and then I decided to relax with a nice swim."

It stared at me with uncertainty before walking into the water and stood infront of me with half of its upper body still above water. It stuck out it's hand towards me.

"Names Mcillian, Alligatorman Berserker/wizard." 

I took his hand and shook it before my brain registered the supremely contradicting classes.

"Wait.... Did you just say your a berserker and a wizard? The Fuck? You're gonna have to explain that."

"Why should I be pinned down by one class. I wrecked the battlefields before retiring early from being a mercenary, then I settled down with an Alligatorwoman who was skilled in the arcane arts. I found out that I have a love of magic that she unleashed and every day since then I have vowed to study and master the magical arts.."

He at first at a warm smile that then turned sad. I could tell instantly that the woman had died so I wasn't going to delve to deep.

"Well, my name's Vexsus, me and my friends and family are on a mission to find a spot to settle down and grow stronger before joining in the war against the Shadow Eaters. If your up to it, I can take you and introduce you to em. I along with many others know magic and we can always use another ally." I was hoping to gain another person to fight alongside and if I'm being honest, the person who was almost as tall as me even in my dragon form was definitely a no brainer in my book.

He tapped on his chin for a while before nodding to himself.

"Yea sure, I have a few things I have to take care of in this area but after that I can join you guys."

"If you don't mind me asking. What do you have going on? We could help as a way to cement our future friendship."

"Haha, that's a good idea and I could use the help now that I think about it. But what needs to be done isn't simple. There lives a huge monster ape in this wilderness who has gained the powers of a shaman. This primate bastard has conjured numerous spirits that roam the forest after dark. I spend every night going out and releasing as many of these spirits as I can in the hopes that one spirit in particular comes.... He promised me she would..."

Damn it, so that's how it is.

"Ok, so how about this..... My daughter is actually a necromancer. I can't promise anything but maybe she could contact your wife for you. Than we can go and fuck up that ape together. What do ya say?"

He looked up so fast that I could have swore I heard a sonic boom. He looked confused, anxious, upset, then finally resolved as he stared holes through my soul.

"If your daughter can actually commune with the dead than I will join instantly. If she can my Sherylla back to life than I will even pledge my soul to you. Anything wouldn't be near enough to express how grateful I would be to have her back." He said before kneeling and pleading.

"Ok, Ok, get off your damn knees before someone sees and gets the wrong idea. We are to similar in body size for anybody to think differently. Let me just transform back and I'll get us back there quickly."

I stepped out of the water and shrunk down to my dragonoid form before turning towards him.

"Hey, what the hell, You were a dragon not 2 seconds ago. Now your tiny, what gives?"

"I'll explain later, just know that even if I'm not in my dragon form, doesn't mean I'm weaker than you. That form just gives me a boost when needed but it drains me to keep it. This is my real form, Now take my arm or hold onto my shoulder tight. Things are gonna get a little blurry."

As soon as he grabbed my arm I activated my speed buffs and zoomed towards the direction I felt Sondar was in. I jumped and for a few moment felt like I was flying as the wind whistled past me. I felt free up in the air and my body started yearning to spread wings that weren't there in this form. I felt a sudden sadness take over me when I started to fall back towards the earth. Something in me called for the sky, it needed to soar and fly above the clouds. 

We landed and after a quick over view of what happened in the last hour between me waking up, and ending with meeting Mcillian and deciding to help him in his mission and in return he agreed to join us.

Now for the hard part. "Hannah come here honey, do you think you can do it? Can you feel any spirits around here?"

She closes her eyes for a minute but then opens them while shaking her head. "I'm sorry... but there is no spirit here that was formally an Alligator person. I do however feel a large concentration of spiritual energy and pressure coming from some distance away in the East. If we go there I could tap into that to get a better look."

"Great, I'm sorry Mcillian, but I promise we will try our best, just don't hold it against us if we fail. We will still help you deal with the Ape either way."