Stage 4

"You came in here with the Mistake, didn't you," the man in the red robes asked me. "That was kind've rude, but I guess this works out for me."

He held me up to his face with his black flames. I could feel the flares singeing the hairs off my neck as he tightened the flame's grip this time on my front shirt collar.

Suddenly, his lips formed into a grin, full of both realization and evil. His smile made me want to cry almost.

"Oh, I know you," his tone suddenly growing more and more sinister and playful. "You had that 'other' Wanderer with you. Someone else was with you too. Hmm…Ah, there she is!"

Xylvia stared at the man with eyes filled with scorn and fear. Her hands shook as the claws that replaced her regular fingernails extended several inches long, all the way down to her knees. I remember that fiery red color. Beautiful, but extremely lethal.

"Put…him…down." She muttered, grinding her teeth as the fang that stuck out in front of her bottom lip along with three others extended longer into the sharp fangs of a predator.

"And what'll happen if I don't?" The man asked, mocking Xylvia with his sarcastic tone.

*FWOOSH!*

Without another word, Xylvia extended her right arm and shot fire out of her claws and hand. The stream of orange and red cackled and shrieked their way towards the man's left side, just out of range from me. However, the man extended his left hand out and shot his ow black flames right back at her. The two streams of burning colors met at the middle, neither one of them making any sort of progress towards each other.

"Quite a strong woman," the man commended, sounding almost convincingly impressed. "Your passion burns brightly, just like the fire coming out of your fingertips. However, just how long will that passion last until it burns out completely?"

Xylvia remained silent. The look on her face was all she used to voice her hatred toward this man.

"Hmm, guess we'll be here for awhile," the man sighed disappointingly. "Everyone, go ahead and take these Mistakes out for me."

All of the leftover followers, around thirty in total, extended their weapons and launched at the Wanderers.

*SPLURCH!*

Everyone was able to connect a hit into whatever part of the Wanderer they were aiming at. The Wanderers all fell to their knees, not even attempting to fight back this time. And the Wanderer that led Xylvia and I to this place had a scythe lacerated straight through his torso.

As he kept Xylvia's flames at bay, the man in the red robes snickered maniacally, taunting at the Wanderer who was brought to their knees.

"Such a meaningless creature, devoid of any purpose," he bolstered. "I have no idea why that fice for a goddess let you creatures wander this world."

His attention then turned to me, his grip around my shirt collar locked tight.

"Now why bother helping out these Mistakes," he asked me with a genuine look of confusion. "These being have no purpose in their lives. No real reason to be alive. Why even look at them?"

"Well, I happen to have met a Wanderer who says otherwise," I said, grabbing at his forearm to stay upright. "It's not that they don't feel things, it's just that they don't understand them nearly as well as we do. They wish they could be people just like us. They want to feel the things that we feel, to understand what those feeling really mean. So what if they're different? Why can't we just give them a chance?"

The man frowned at me disappointingly.

"Such a shame," he muttered. "Looks like they got to you. Once they get a hold of your mind, there's no way for you to escape. Sorry, but you're far from saving."

He stuck his thumb out towards my neck and a sharp black object started inching closer and closer. I could feel the burning flame slowly beginning to melt my skin. Luckily the flame didn't touch me, because I was quickly yanked away by a different flame.

"Ooh, not bad little girl," the man said to Xylvia who stood me back on my feet. "Guess you know more than just fighting."

Xylvia said nothing to him. Instead, she turned to me.

"Hiro, as much as I want to help those Wanderers, we can't stay here." She said to me.

"I know, but there has to be something." I said to her.

I know how bad this is. Even someone like me, who knows very little about this world, understands how dangerous this situation is. I just…can't leave them here to die.

"What made you turn Josiah?" Xylvia asked the man.

"So you do recognize me," he said with a cold smile. "I was beginning to worry that you'd forgotten all about me Whiskers. However, I don't understand what you mean by 'turn.' I've always had a grudge against these Mistakes. The tales that my great great grandmother past down to my family has always been in my mind. I just never acted until now."

"…That's what I thought."

*CRACK!*

"Mm…guess I'm a little out of shape." The man said, cracking his neck.

*CRRRIIICK!* … *CRACK!*

Suddenly, the fingers attached to his hands started cracking by themselves. And then…

*CRUNCH!*

His right index finger completely snapped off. What should've been red blood that oozed out from his wound was instead a dark purplish liquid that was way too light to be blood.

"Auck! Wh-What is this?!" He screamed at his lost finger.

"You've told me stories about that war your previous ones were involved in, and how you wish that you could forget about them," Xylvia started. "They ate into your soul, making you question your own beliefs. You didn't want to believe in them, but you just couldn't stop yourself from chasing after more information. Combine that with the Corruption that's spread throughout the world, and you've gotten yourself a nasty transformation."

"Wh-What?! N-No…it can't be! That's not true! I'm not going Corrupt! I was given the power through my own sacrifice!"

"All you did was speed up the process. You're about to hit stage 4. You see that black stuff surrounding you and your friends. That's not fire, it's your shell. It shape-shifts into whatever defensive form you want it to. And it burns like that just in case anything actually touches you. And I don't know who this Satan person you prayed to is, but they clearly don't care about whatever it is that you're doing."

"J-Josiah…! What's…happ…ening…to…me…"

One of Josiah's followers suddenly fell to his knees. His black scythe getting swallowed by the Wanderer that it was speared through. He also looked like he was getting his soul sucked out of him. I could hear all the flesh and blood leaving his body, leaving him with nothing but skin and bones. He then fell to the ground, dead and silent.

"I learned something from a fellow Wanderer," Xylvia continued, almost smiling. "They carry the Corrupt, but they don't spread it. At first, I thought they were completely made out of it. However, and it could just be my wishful thinking, I'm starting to think that they could be just the thing-…the people we need to end this Corruption completely. Because it turns out, they can feed off of it."

All of Josiah's other followers met the same fate as the man with the scythe. The Wanderers rose back up to their feet, completely unscathed. Leaving all of Josiah's followers dead and silent.

"N-No…we were supposed to-"

"You said Hiro was beyond saving, but you should take a look in a mirror," Xylvia insulted Josiah after cutting him off. "Hiro believed in these people. I thought he was out of his mind, but he ended up being right. I guess I have some things that I need to learn as well."

Xylvia turned to face me and smiled warmly.

"This whole adventure thing is kind've fun." She said to me cheerily.

"Not sure if I'd count this as an adventure, but it's a start." I said half-jokingly.

The bones in Josiah's body continued to crack and break. Some even started breaking through his skin, revealing more of that nasty purple liquid. His eyes began to glow a bloody red and he started choking on some sort of black tar.

"I've only ever seen this once, but this is a nasty transformation," Xylvia said as she began walking towards him. "It's incredibly painful too. Various part of your body will tear themselves off as they try to make room for different ones. Your face will begin to tear itself in half. Your frame will crack open. Every part of your body, whether inside or out, will be exposed and reshaped. So, for the sake of your own humanity, let a Wanderer ease the pain at least a little bit."

Josiah gritted his teeth as more of his fingers began tearing themselves off his hands. He looked like he tried to say something, but one of his kneecaps suddenly shattered sideways and shredded his left leg clean off.

"AAAAAUUUUHHHH!!!" He screamed painfully.

I quickly looked away and instead focused my attention on Catherine and her son Cameron. Catherine had one of her hands in front of Cameron's eyes as she seemed to be whispering him something to try and keep him calm.

I could hear Xylvia's footsteps continuing to make their way towards the screaming man.

"You need to hurry before you get to stage 4," Xylvia stammered, practically pleading for him to make the decision. "If you have any humanity left in you, then please let them ease your pain."

One of the Wanderers, the one who led us here, started to walk towards Josiah.

However…

"You…really think…I'd let…a Mistake…kill me…" he growled inhumanly. "I'd rather lose my own humanity, than…let any one…of those THINGS…touch me…"

His voice sounded more raspy and evil, as if he were a demon.

"Why die…when I could just kill you all myself?"

The sounds of bones cracking and skin and flesh tearing accelerated at an insane speed. I could hear various sounds splattering and growling from behind me. I was scared to turn around, but I had to see what we were up against. However, Catherine's face told me that it was not good. The blood seemed to be completely drained from her eyes. She almost fainted from whatever it was she saw.

I heard quick footsteps approaching me.

"HIRO," I heard Xylvia shout. "WE NEED GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

She sounded nothing but dead serious. She grabbed my hand and forced me to kick it into high gear. However, before we went running through the tunnel, I turned to see what had happened to Josiah…

I wish I hadn't even looked.

He grew a whole meter in height. His jaw was hanging very loosely, practically dangling off his face. Every part of his body was made up of huge, deformed limbs that pulsated disgustingly. His skin was black and bloody red, with that nasty purplish color being the veins that bulged violently all over his body. His hands were a mixture of claws and tendrils. His chest and torso had huge gashes that had rows of sharp teeth inside of them. And his legs and feet looked like ones that belonged to a four legged animal as they cracked with every move they made.

"akakakakakakakukuku…"

Josiah made a violent popping sound with his throat, staring us down with a menacing presence. The Wanderer who led us here dashed forward to get a head start at him, but-

*SNAP!*

Josiah slashed at their tendrils before they could attack. What snapped me back into running was when I heard the rumbling sound the the tunnel walls closing in on us. I completely forgot that the Wanderer was holding open these walls.

Oh shit! We're not gonna make it!

I ran straight forward as fast as I could. My ears started to ring as everything felt like it was moving much slower. They do say that time feels much slowly as you come closer to death.

I didn't know what to do. We were way to far away from making it to the other end. Everyone else who we freed was already long gone, and none of us were strong enough to hold these walls together. I didn't know what to do, except react on my instinct and hold Xylvia close to me.

I'm not sure why I did this. This wouldn't have made it any less painful as both of us would end up crushed brutally. However, even if it eased the pain a little, I kept Xylvia close to me. Hugging her as tightly as I possibly could and braced myself…