Symbiosis Chapter 5
#5 of Symbiosis
Am I Even Human Anymore?
By Felsune
The need to just let violence consume her was too much to bear within the small frame of her body. Hauling her foot back, she slammed it into the male's knee, feeling a tiny bit of surprise as she plowed through it like a thin board. The male's smug expression turning to shock as the snap of his knee inverting and shattering, quickly turned to one of agony. His scream filling the air as he fell back, clutching his leg, and Iska pushed up.
With a harsh growl, Iska screamed down at the male, "I don't know who you are, but get the fuck off my property! Take your shitty attitude and crawl back to the guild! They know what I went through in there, and they have NO right to rescind my protection!"
She panted, ragged breaths tearing through her throat as she stared down at the male, his face paled with pain twisting his expression into an ugly one. But, in her rage, she had forgotten the most important part of what she had seen earlier. Once people reached Wooden Rank, they tended to party up with close individuals, or ones that had been with them since the beginning. And one of said individuals who was with the male, had been a blatant rogue. And as she stood there, panting, she felt the sudden pressure in her back, the wet sound of metal sliding through flesh, and a dull ache.
Iska's lips twisted into a frown, as she tried to understand what had just happened, until she heard Temerra scream in raw horror. With a jerking motion, and a wet squelch, something tugged at her back in two places, causing her to stagger forward as she reached back to feel what had happened. Something thick was sliding down her back, and the ache in her sides was getting worse. The rogue...she'd been backstabbed! A Dirty Shot, right for her kidneys! She felt her gorge rise as the pain ripped through her like a hot knife, making her vomit up the bile from earlier, along with a bit of bacon she'd snuck before sitting down at the table.
There was the sound of running feet, and then her sister was there, holding her, as the Healer raced past her towards his wounded comrade, and began to chant. Working to fix his broken leg, while Temerra pulled her wounded sister close, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "No, no, no! Please, Iska, come on, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please, don't go!"
Iska frowned, what was Temerra talking about? She wasn't going anywhere...damn though, those holes in her back did not feel good. If she'd had anything in her gut, she'd have tossed it again, but all that came out was a wet gag. But still, she wasn't going to die, not from this. They just needed to get to the town. It was only a short wagon ride to the nearest healer. She could live through that. She turned her head to Temerra and forced a smile.
"Not, going to go anywhere. Get the wagon." She'd have said more, but just forcing that out made her want to vomit again! Seriously, this wasn't normal, the Rogue must have used something else aside from a Dirty Trick, if the stun was lasting this long.
"Oh no you don't, you aren't gettin out of here after what you did to Kem bitch!"
A loud slap filled the air, as the rogue backhanded Temerra and kicked Iska onto her front, bringing another groan of agony from Iska and a cry from Temerra.
{You know, this isn't going to end with them walking away, correct?}
[What do you mean? I don't think I'm going to be walking away from this!]
{If you die, so do I. As I have made you my Dungeon, if you will. So I am not going to allow them to kill you. There are only three of them.}
[Yah, and their total level probably more than equals our combined one mate!]
{Well yes, but that has never been a problem for me. I survive by getting stronger rapidly, through the consumption of magic.}
[Don't know if you have realized it, but I ain't got no magic! No magic items either!]
{But they do. I'm taking control now. I'm going to need to use your instincts. Don't worry, this won't hurt much. And I will apologize later.}
[What?]
And then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the pain went away, and her body felt...light. Oh, that was nice...oh MAN that was nice! She felt an impact in her ribs, but it was so dull, so far away, as if someone was kicking her through training armor. Turning her head, she saw the rogue winding up for a second kick, and felt herself smile, almost dreamily.
Enraged by that seemingly taunting smile, the rogue screamed at Iska, "See if you can smile when I break all your damned teeth!" And swung her leg around again, this time aiming at Iska's chin. But that didn't really matter, as Iska could feel something sliding down over her teeth, and her jaw opening. Then the taste of dirt and leather as she bit down. Chomping with all her might, until she heard the dull sound of screaming, and could taste the metallic taste of blood. Something was sizzling in her mouth, then suddenly everything went dark as she was slammed face first into the dirt. Tearing a sizeable chunk of leather and flesh from the Rogue's foot.
"TINA!" A strange voice, along with the sounds of sobbing, not of her own sister or her own. She pushed herself up, moving to spit out the leather, only to find it was mostly gone, twisted and burnt as if by acid. She turned her head to look at the Rogue, apparently Tina(?) and saw her weeping, holding her foot. Or what was left of it, as there was a gaping hole in the leather of her boot, and the muscle was melted away, leaving raw bone visible to the air in a ragged bite mark.
"By Irori! What the hell happened?!" The healer raced forward, moving to grab his holy symbol, and began to chant. Divine magic flowing down his arm and pendant, and into the hand hovering over Tina's foot.
'That Counts' was all she heard in her mind, before she lunged forward, her jaws clamping around the symbol of Irori and the healer's hand as she bit down. The metal chain didn't last long under her teeth, and the poor man's hand was destroyed and mangled nearly immediately. The human jaw's bite force is quite strong, especially compared to the structure of the human hand, meaning that with the acid coating her teeth, for that's what it had to be, she quickly mutilated the Healer, as well as tore his symbol of faith from his chest.
And as she chewed, moving back, acid and blood hissing and dripping from her mouth, she felt stronger. Oh goddess, it was raw pleasure and power! She brought her hands up, covering her mouth, as if trying to force the juices back in, licking her fingers, just wanting to find more of that sensation! And very faintly, coming from the deepest parts of her mind, she faintly heard the voice of the Symbiote.
'Well, that's new.'
Just like before, this didn't seem to be spoken to her, more as if she were listening in on its thoughts. Still, she wanted more, and it was all gone from her mouth, the effect seeming to taper off, like the high coming down from a drug. And when she saw the effects of her vicious attack on the Healer's hand, Tina's foot, she felt nothing. Nothing besides the hunger. And she dove forward, clawing against the Healer's chest, as she could feel the pulse of the delicious magic within.
Iska raised her fists up and brought them down on the great flat sheet of his chest. She could feel it, with every beat of her fists, the pulse of power, the promise of pleasure and power. Finally, something gave in the surface of the sheet, with a great crack, she was able to push her fingers in. Tearing through the soft covering, until she could pry away the bars. But it was taking too long, and she needed to get there faster. So she lowered her mouth down, and began to chew, gnawing her way through the bars, and into the wet mess beneath. Gnawing until she found the power source, beating frantically.
And with a greedy growl of pure pleasure, she lunged forward, capturing it in her jaws and yanked it back. Pulling her hands up, she shoved more and more of the power into her mouth, chewing it up, dissolving it, and swallowing it. Power flooded her, leaving her in a rapture like embrace as she felt warmth flooding down her chin and chest, and all inside her body. She only jerked back to herself, her trance broken, when she heard her sister screaming. Her head whipping around, she looked frantically for her sister.
When she found her sister, the look of pure horror on Temerra's face, snapped her back to herself fully. The feeling of power and pleasure sapped from her body. The warmth on her face was cooling, and it felt...sticky. Slowly, she brought her hands up, and wiped away at the strange substance, looking at her fingers and saw the stained red color. When she turned to look back in front of her, the grisly scene of carnage that was the Healer's body, was to much for her.
She tried to turn away and vomit, to wretch up the contents of her stomach, of what she had eaten. But nothing came up, not even acid, as she heaved. What had she done? That single thought echoed over and over in her mind, as she looked inward, and screamed at the Symbiote.
[What did you make me do?!]
{I did not do that. I lost control when I made you eat the holy symbol. After that, it wasn't me anymore.}
The cold tone only made it worse. Not because he sounded upset or even perturbed. If anything he seemed almost indifferent. No, he was perplexed, confused, but not upset. No, it was the fact that he wasn't lying that made her truly horrified and disgusted.
[What did I do...]