"Worms that refuse to die should be burned into the earth."
Gwyn watched in horror as the stranger walked towards Roe's crawling body. Roe looked like he was possessed, unanswering and unaware of anything but the pillar.
It calls to him, like it had called to so many others. And like all those it had called to before, it will have him.
Roe's hand touched the dark pillar and light erupted from the waystone. Dark energy poured into Roe's body, twisting his bones and tearing at his skin until it shed. Light dripped from his eyes like blood, hollow shells of their former grey stones. The air filled with the scent of death.
Arms shot from Roe's chest, tearing from his rib cage and falling off into dust and shadows until one armored limb remained, sliding across his dark skin until it settled into the socket of his missing arm. Large wolf-like ears danced from smoke coming from Roe's skull. His hands had turned to claws. He was no longer Roe.
"Sword." The stranger said softly, and a dark blade flew from his shadow into his hand. Gwyn bit her lip.
"It's not possible…" She gasped. Dark armor enveloped the stranger like smoke until it solidified. "Nightsworn…"
"My name…" The stranger called back to her, gripping his sword tightly with one hand, purple flames dancing on his swordless arm. He combined the two and the sword exploded, heat searing the hair from Gwyn's arms.
Roe pounced, light dripping from his toothy snarl. He swiped at the nightsworn with his new armored arm, but the stranger simply sidestepped and dropped his sword down on the arm. The blade cut cleanly through the appendage.
Roe roared in pain, slinking back like a wounded animal. The black blood that oozed from the fresh wound solidified into a new arm, this one spiked and liquid.
The stranger appeared beside Roe, driving his sword into Roe's chest and forcing Gwyn's nightsworn to the ground. He ignited the blade once more and charred the monster.
Roe screeched, unable to move. He flailed, arms and legs clawing and churning at the earth. His head twisted awfully until his eyes met the strangers. Roe spit acid into the other boy's face. He dodged.
Roe grabbed the sword, two more arms erupting from his chest and pushed the sword slowly from his chest.
The nightsworn simply tsk'd and drove the blade deeper. Without another choice, Roe grew more arms and legs until he was able to push himself up the blade and force the nightsworns hand from the hilt.
An awful roar came from Roe, monstrous and so unlike the boy he had been. Gwyn felt tears fall from her face as she watched.
Roe swatted the nightsworn. He put his arms up to defend and was caught off guard by the sudden strength Roe unexpectedly possessed. The nightsworn was sent flying with Roe giving chase.
"Roe!" Gwyn yelled after the boys as they flew through the forest.
Dark arms lept through and around the trees as they chased the nightsworn. "Enough!" The nightsworn erupted in a purple flame, stopping his flight through the forest. He summoned his sword to his hand and launched it at the incoming Roe, striking the monster in the neck. Roe simply used a free hand to toss the sword aside and continue his chase, a big toothy grin.
"Contracts with the devil," the nightsworn says as he appears behind Roe, wrapping both arms around the beasts head and pulls with all his might, "end only in blood!" He released the beasts head from the rest of its body. But it simply grew a new, meaner looking mug.
Gwyn struggled to catch up to the boys, following their battle by sound alone. One moment they're to her left, the next they're exchanging blows in the sky. She couldn't keep up. Nightsworn or not, this stranger wasn't normal. He shouldn't even exist, and yet he does. And Roe…
She shook her head. "I have to stop them."
Roe wrapped his multiple arms around the nightsworn like bandages, enraging the dark figure even further than he already has. The nightsworn bit at Roe's tendrils, using everything at his disposal to escape.
"Heel, you stupid mutt!" The nightsworn spat.
Roe bared his large teeth and growled at the boy, spit flying into his face.
"Agnaz!"
Gwyn appeared behind the nightsworn, purple fire attaching itself to Roe's many arms, forcing him to release the other boy.
"We have to stop him!" Gwyn pleaded with the nightsworn. "I can save him!"
"I'm gonna kill him." The nightsworn summoned his sword to his hand. He looked angry, sweat dripping down his brow from under his helmet.
"Please," Gwyn begged. "If you can just keep him-"
"He dies!" The nightsworn raged. "Nothing more, nothing less." He let out a labored breath. He was getting tired.
Roe lashed at the other boy, his arms turning into spears and spikes. The nightsworn cleaved each arm that went his way, but Roe just kept growing more arms. The nightsworn slipped into the shadow one of Roe's arms made and appeared under the monster, driving his sword through the monstrous body before disappearing and reappearing above him, slashing down at the boy's eyes. Roe let out a cry of pain.
Roe grabbed the nightsworn and smashed the boy into the ground. He repaid the nightsworns earlier courtesy with his own, smashing the boys face in through his armor until there was a nightsworn-sized crater where the boy was.
Purple fire eveloped Roe once more. A magic circle appeared under Gwyn, and four walls shot up around Roe and slammed into him until he was crushed between them. Roe shattered the walls and started towards Gwyn when a familiar black leash wrapped around Roe's neck, pulling him towards the ground.
Spears of ice shot up from the ground and into the monster's body. The nightsworn held his hands tight together in his little crater, blood dripping from his mouth. A wall of ice covered the boy when Roe tried to attack him again.
Roe forced his way through the wall of ice and grabbed the boy, tossing his towards Gwyn. She caught him in a wall of vines.
"Please," She pleads once more. "I can help him." She touches the spot under the nightsworns left eye, under his helmet with her icy hands. Her touch startles the boy, his eyes widening for a moment.
"Fuck it." He relents. "As long as he stops bashing me in the head."
"Thank you." She gives him a relieved smile.
Gwyn creates a magic circle under Roe, vines dragging the boy down once more and ice slowly freezes his legs in place. The nightsworn disappears in Gwyn's shadow after they share a hesitant look.
"Roe!" She yells at the beast. He yells back. "Here boy!" She clicks her cheek like she would with a pet. "C'mere boy!"
Roe struggles against the vines and ice. He creates new arms and legs just to attack his bondages, but his eyes don't leave Gwyn's. He might be a monster now, but his pact with her still stands. If she calls, he will answer.
"No matter what." She whispers. Roe breaks free and rushes towards her, claws tearing up the ground en route. She turns around and disappears, the Nightsworn taking her spot as she slides into their shadow and appears on Roe's back. She presses two fingers against his neck where his mark should be and floods his system with her mana.
"Roe!" She yells into his wolf-like ears. Roe wraps his many arms around the nightsworn, capturing his prey and squeezing the life from the boy. "Heel!"
Roe hesitated, his grip on the nightsworn loosening. The other boy spat blood into the beast's mouth. "Pathetic."
Roe let out another monstrous roar, but as his head swung back, his eyes flickered close, the light in them dimming. His head kept falling backwards until he fell flat against Gwyn. She kept flooding her mana into him, attempting to expel the Void Curse.
The nightsworn clawed at his armored chest, watching as Roe struggled with consciousness. He let his armor fade back into smoke, taking a knee to steady himself.
"Thank you…" Gwyn smiled softly at the nightsworn as the boy fell to the ground and passed out from exhaustion. Her eyes began to droop low, light dancing in her vision. She ran out of mana moments ago. But Roe wasn't safe yet, so she had to keep at it, even if she had to give up all of her life to do so.
"It's okay, Rosie. I've got you."