World Filter

The moment the Wellspring went around Mark’s index finger a tiny sliver of rationality tweaked behind his brows. Their next ‘words’ not only annoyed him, they challenged him. The mental connection carried with it worry, anger, desperation, ambition, warmth, and so many more he could scarcely process them, but they came rushing in whether he wanted it or not, and the Corruption hated it.

Reacting with prejudice, it rushed down the connections of its own accord, in an attempt to strike out at the owners. At first, Mark was at a loss, all he wanted to do was let the Corruption numb him. He didn’t have to feel any of this, and yet when he saw the sudden expression of pain warping Sam’s face, he couldn't turn away.

Jonathan's reaction was even more pronounced as his mental defense was nowhere near Sam’s. He let go of Mark and clutched his head as he thrashed on the ground.

Unrestrained, Mark tried to get up, but Sam grabbed onto his wrist.

Because of this Mark saw his arm for the first time since he’d told the Corruption to change it. What he saw now was not human, Sam couldn’t even get her hand halfway around his wrist.

The arm was wrapped in grey muscle and was easily three times that of a normal hand. Black talons tipped his four fingers, especially where his index and middle finger had fused.

The shock of it all gave Mark the barest window of clarity, and the burning in his chest amped up to a fever pitch. Sweat began pouring down Mark’s back and forehead, soaking into his armor. For a moment all he could feel was a heat surrounding him, like that of a billows, or a hearth. He didn't know how, but she was here with him

As though sensing something was wrong the Corruption rushed back in to bury him, but it was too late. Mark realized he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t be this weak and let the corruption have its way.

The Corruption sent waves of frigid pain tearing through his altered flesh, causing Mark to drop back to the ground. The Corrution would not give up and the minuscule drop of Prana in his ring began to evaporate.

Without any time to spare Mark, directed the Prana toward his mind. The moment it arrived, his full emotions hit him like a sack of potatoes thrown from a double-story building. The pain and anger were still there, but now other emotions rushed to the forefront. He hadn't realized he couldn't even feel anything else. The Corruption had numbed him to anything else and for the first in hours, comfort flushed through Mark as the hearth in his chest glowed with joy.

Using what strength he had left, Mark called up his prompts – of which there were many – and searched for the crest. He found it and hit absorb, but not before spotting the most recent prompt.

Warning:

Prohibited energy use detected!

System punishment will be invoked if this energy is used again.

Warning repeated use of prohibited energy.

System deemed insufficient to determine punishment.

Contacting Caretaker.

…

…

…

Response received…

Administering punishment: System lock engaged, features limited until further notice.

Message from Caretaker: “You were warned personally, this is all I can do for you now.”

Mark didn’t have the time to even worry about what that could mean, he was just relieved the system prompt for the crest seemed to go through before the whole system turned a dull grey and stopped responding.

The crest rushed into Mark directly, branding his skin with pulses of life, as Prana rushed into his body at break-neck speeds. Corruption burned and fought a war along his flesh, as the two energies tried to subsume one another.

In the end, there was still far more Corruption than Prana, and yet that energy burned the final blinders from Mark's vision. It wouldn’t last long but Mark managed to claw the surface.

The first thing he did was to attempt to cut the connection to Sam and Jonathan, but when his Mana retreated, the connection remained.

It was only when Mark saw Sam’s Mana maintaining the connection that he realized she was purposefully keeping it open, in turn, it was deepening as she built the bridge between their minds. The link drew the Corruption’s ire and that was exactly what she wanted. Mark focused on her and the look in her eyes said almost as much as the connection could. The pain was still there, but she only offered up a feeling of readiness, mirrored by Jonathan's challenge.

The Corruption was at war with Mark, so it had stopped focusing on them, in favor of working on his defenses. Even now, the Prana was fading. Realizing he didn’t have time to spare Mark let them do as they pleased.

Right now he was working with limited Prana, so he needed more. The only way left was to filter out the corruption but he wasn't certain he had the strength left to do that. However, without any other option, Mark triggered [Draw Corruption], but he didn’t want to draw more of the stuff into himself. So the only thing he could come up with was to cup his hands together and create a tiny bridge of mycelium between his hands. Interposing his Resistance between them. This allowed him to circulate his Corruption and begin to separate it.

This was not what the spell was intended for, and so the Corruption leaked right back into his body. However, there was a small amount that circulated through his Resistance because he could feel it the moment the pain hit. His body was ragged and sore, but where the Corruption had altered him, the pain seemed to lessen to almost nothing. On top of this, the soul-crushing weight felt tremendously lighter over his chest as the crest acted as a powerful shock absorber.

When he weaved the net of Prana over his body, the pain reduced further. Seeing his opening Mark began to pull a large amount of Corruption through himself. All three energies rushed in as the tangled mess fell back in order. Right away Mark sent the cleaned Prana to his head and chest, in an attempt to push back the Corruption.

The fresh tattoos glowed across Mark, as Sam deepened the connection further. Mark had all but dropped the [Telepathic link], however, Sam had mimicked the bridge. The link was more her spell than his at that point. So when he felt her pushing the link to the second stage, he panicked and urged her to stop. Unfortunately, both she and Jonathan –who was kneeling behind him– refused to back down.

Their senses synced with his, and the pain crept through the link startling both of them. Mark showed them what he was attempting and told them to leave, but again they refused, each taking up a portion of the burden. With that, the pain lowered to a dull electronic buzzing through their veins.

Mark knew their stubbornness could rival his own so he accepted them and began to draw the Corruption through faster. At that, Mark could tell they were making headway. The finite amount of Corruption within him was losing ground and it grew desperate, attempting to resist the pull of the spell.

Mark's head grew clearer by the second, but the Corrution would not let go of him that easily. The beast below them shuddered and corruption rushed toward them from all directions. The floors crumbled and began to liquefy, turning into a swamp of tar directly below them. Coils of ichor began to reach up and secure themselves around Mark's body. With his [Draw Corruption] still open, the energy came rushing in, and with it, so did countless visions.

Masses of shapes and colors imprinted themselves on the connection, rushing past their minds like a stream of consciousness. The strongest minds forcing themselves to the front, allowing Mark to lend their sight.

As one they saw the whole city come into view. The outer edges were already crumbing, city walls had long since failed. People ran screaming in the streets as Corrupted chased them deeper into the center. Near the core of the city, the secondary wall still stood and people rushed through the open gates, but they would have to close it soon if they were to survive. Factions caught off guard by the breached walls attempted to stand their ground. Though the large number of dead Corrupted attested to their valiant efforts, those who didn't evacuate their territory or form alliances with other factions were ultimately overwhelmed by the hordes.

Then they caught sight of their own territory: a ring of shrinking defense swirled near their home base. Pushing back the tides had become more than just survival; it was a matter of pride. Fighters propped one another up as they lifted their weapons over and over. Casters strained to send just one more spell. Trembling hands reloaded weapons for redeyed marksmen. Weeping faces bandaged broken limbs. Blistered feet marched on even when it hurt to take the next step.

Just beyond that, a sea of napalm cut an ugly scar through the city, holding back a colossal slug as it searched for a way around. Every building and street near the edge was inundated with Corrupted bodies, crawling over one another only to slam against their last holdouts. And they were only growing as time went on, gathered by Grace’s death throes, frenzied and dauntless.

Then, near the city's outer edges, a horrific sight came into view.

Sam quickly reinforced their connection to block out the minds beyond, blurring out the visions. Reeling from what they'd seen, Jonathan tried to cut the cords connecting to Mark, but as fast as he did more were sent out to chain them all down. Sam tried to lift them out of the muck with a platform wind but when that proved impossible she attempted to stop more from piling on.

The last images replayed in Mark's mind taunting him. Dark waters surrounded them playing host to the single largest collection of growing creatures they had seen to date. Even if they survived these Corrupted, more, far more, would be here soon. These numbers exceeded even an army, the number of Corrupted encircling the whole of Lower Manhattan could only be described as a legion. Waiting to crawl from their pustules and onto land, a city-wide Influx was on the way.

For a moment none of them moved, too lost in despair. They had fought so hard, but at this stage, it mattered little, not with the numbers they had felt. More ichor warped around Sam's spell trying to find a way in, the remainder crawling up to Mark's waist, trapping his legs.

Mark and Sam felt Jonathan's desire to fight them head-on, but instead of drawing his blade, he lifted his arm for them to see the disk clutched in his hand. Straightening in surprise, Mark realized what he meant. With Grace's piece, they had unintentionally stumbled on the last module.

Mark opened his greyed-out system panel, and with a shaking hand, searched for the seed in his inventory, it was the only one to have a golden border.

Mark swallowed and tried to summon it, when it appeared in his hand, Mark looked at Sam and Jonathan in relief. This was it, they had all the pieces, perhaps not how they intended, but they had them. They could activate the First Rite, however, it was a bittersweet moment.

If Dr. Haley was right, being a module was incredibly taxing, if not a death sentence. This was the very thing Jonathan had been preparing himself for, but even knowing that it was not easy to step into the unknown.

The three of them glanced at one another, each already having made up their minds. Their options were already so few, that if this could help it would be worth it. Each of their motivations shone like stars in the connection.

For Sam, it was the insatiable yearning she felt to find the answers to all of this. Jonathan on the other hand desired the challenge, he wanted to pit himself against this thing and survive. Mark wanted to fight and have his questions answered, but most of all, he wanted to preserve the piece of this world he’d carved out for himself. Selfish or selfless, he didn’t care.

None of them hesitated

There was a chance this would change nothing, but right now all they cared about was doing something.

Their unanimous decision had Mark struggling to stand amongst the ichor, brushing off the needles of pain that pricked his limbs, lowering the seed onto a small construct he’d created. Jonathan stood and placed the disk there as well. Taking the tarnished staff from his back, Mark held it over the two other items. At the same time, Sam stood and place he hand above his and Jonathan took up the space below. The ichor coiled up Mark’s waist and climbed onto his back.

The last time all they needed to do was channel a little power into the staff to get things moving. Now they needed to go all out from the get-go. Their crests were the last pieces needed to get this thing going, so without time to waste they started channeling.

Sam gathered her remaining Mana, causing a set of precise runes and lines to spread across her face.

Mark called to his Prana, imprinting himself with verdant and natural runes around his chest.

Jonathan matched his Aura to the world, branding himself with robust runes over his abdomen.

Power rushed into the conduit from them, and the staff’s delicate channels began to glow a myriad of colors. The moment they did this, the disk flipped off the platform and slotted onto the bottom of the staff. Clicking into place, it began spinning lazily.

The seed moved to rest just over the disk and cracked open. The nectar it had absorbed in the lab spilled out and spiraled up the staff until it came to a halt just below their hands.

Power rushed out of them until it reached a point of no return and the disk began to accelerate. The runes across their skin began to glow and power came rushing in from around them. As the process began a system prompt came through.

Congratulations the First Rite has begun!

Initializing…

Checking integrity…

Error. 6/7 [Moduls] viable.

Warning Incomplete module [Crest of spirit] - Analysis(Broken throne)

Prerequisite energies at sufficient levels. Overriding and proceeding…