Chapter 8
Varian was alone as he glared at the Hurt Incantation scroll, not knowing why he did so, more unsure why he was so tempted to use it, he made it CLEAR he didn't want to hurt anyone.. so why was his mind treating that statement like it were a lie? "Moon child.." A voice creeped into his ears. He jumped, as if he saw an apparition. But that was it, he WAS seeing a spirit before him, a ghost. "Who.. W-Who the heck are you?" He demanded. "If you deny your destiny, your enemy will over shadow you and you will fall.." The voice taunted. "What?" Varian asked. The deity projected a scene before his very eyes, one of Varian being trapped and a golden, glowing figure was towering over him as he suffered, making him seem so small and his power was stolen.. leading to his demise. Varian stood back, feeling like he just had a punch to the gut. "Who's the other person there.." He angrily mumbled. The spirit stayed silent. "I asked.. WHO ELSE IS THERE??" Varian enunciated, his eyes glowed. The apparition hesitated, then said, "That's for you to learn Moon Child.." As if it were a riddle, a game. Varian woke up in a cold sweat, surrounded by black rocks. "Varian?" A girl asked. He sat up and looked outside the tent to see his sister, Rapunzel. "Are you okay?" Rapunzel queried. "Y-Yeah! Definitely! J-Just not getting the.. the best sleep.." He stammered. She gave him a concerned look as he gave her a quirky smirk. Her face made him sigh and say, "No.. No I'm not okay.." Rapunzel sat on his bed on the other side of him. "Is it because of The Great Tree?" She asked. He shook his head 'no'. "The Hurt Incantation?" She asked. He hesitated as his muscles tensed, then slowly nodded, 'yes'. She frowned. "You didn't hurt me though, you know that." Rapunzel encouraged. "But that doesn't mean no one got hurt in general! You and Eugene got hurt by the vines and Cassie.." Varian argued, "C-Cassie got a scar from me.. If I didn't hurt her.. S-She wouldn't have got possessed.." He continued to go on about his anxiety, almost going out of control, "We wouldn't even be on this quest if we didn't touch those rocks, if I didn't touch those rocks, this is all my fault, we shouldn't be here, Cassie wouldn't be in pain if we weren't here, I'm the reason why we're here, I'm the reason you all had to suffer today, I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't have survived that night, I deserved to get hurt and you didn't, I should've gotten myself possessed instead, I should have never existed, I should have never used the incantation, I should've protected you, I should've hurt myself, I deserve to die right now, no one would even care anyway because I'm obviously destined to hurt all of Corona in the end and I don't know why I would actually want that!" Varian spiraled as black magic surged and crackled around them like vultures, his breathing quickening as he sobbed. Rapunzel hugged him and everything stopped, the power vaporizing. "Please don't talk about yourself like that again.." She pleaded, a tear falling down her cheek. Varian slowed his breathing and wiped his tears away. "S-Sorry.." He apologized. There was a silence before Varian exclaimed in pain. "What? What happened?" Rapunzel asked, pulling away. "I.. I don't know, I just felt like I was being burned for a second.." He said. His sister hummed, then said, "Well, we can talk later, get some better sleep Brother." He softly smiled at her before she left, laying on his back again. "And your 'sister' is the answer to your previous question, Moon Child." The ghost told him, flashing in front of his eyes. Varian gasped, it took him a moment to process it, then realized.. his enemy was Rapunzel.. TO BE CONTINUED..