Making a mental calculation, Kumori came to the painful conclusion that whatever had been unleashed seemed far too grand for any single being to control. All of the light was being sucked away and replaced by heavy, oozing darkness, a black magic that glittered with the thousand eyes of a poisonous black beetle. It wasn't there yet, but the wisps were swirling somewhat, round and round into the gaping hole in the earth. Soon it would become an unstoppable vortex, an unnatural whirlpool that would destroy all nature and order on this island.
And who knew what next? Would it stop after it had engulfed this island? Would it then move onto the rest of the world?
He wondered how he had managed to get himself caught in the middle of an impending apocalypse. Well Kumori, the battle you've always wanted is dawning upon you. Can you handle it?
Kumori simply closed his eyes and heaved a deep passive sigh, somehow resigned. In the wake of the immediate magnetic wrench, the magic imbedded within Kumori's very own molecular structure had responded. They were singing in harmony, on a different level, striking different note and tones, but they recognised this magic, and so they swayed as the notes do, high and low, winding this way and that, and...NO!
Mind over magic! He clenched his fists even tighter against the hilt, and flexed his muscles, feeling for something real, something tangible to hold onto. He needed feeling, human feelings, human emotions, human contact with any surface – the things he had shunned for such a long time. Abstract though they were, right now they were the most concrete things he needed to hold onto, to prevent himself from being swallowed up by dark magic.
Damn shadow magic, he thought with intense bitterness. If I could thrust it out of my essence I really would!
But, it had been so long since he had last gotten in touch with himself, he didn't know where to begin. He was a spectator, a passive traveller simply watching the world pass by rather than be an active participant. The accident had long since seen to it, that he could neither be completely with the living. Nor lie in peace with the dead.
"Hold into my legs."
"I thank you kindly, but the battle I am fighting is one that you cannot help me with." Kumori nodded once to emphasize his point.
Both he and Lazarus were at the edge of a line of old trees, so there were plenty of roots to use as anchors. He had been standing, but the weight of the magic had forced him to his knees. Kumori made himself relax, keeping a strong enough grip on his sword which was still embedded in the ground. He had to focus his mind; he had to reach a peaceful state...
YOUR PLANT CREATED THIS HOLE, NOT ME. THIS IS ME. TELL ME, WHAT HAPPENS TO A PLACE THAT HAS NO LIGHT? I CANNOT DO THIS AND HELP MY FRIEND THOUGH SO YOU MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SACRIFICING FOR Y—
Kumori's eyes snapped open. Unexpected strength surged into his body and he stood up, eyes dilated to their full blackness. That was the only sign of the rage that had suddenly gripped him.
"How dare you." He said those three words so, so calmly, and so, so quietly, but...it was as if the noise of all the destruction had been turned down, a pause before the storm, or perhaps at the centre of it where everything was silent. Nevertheless, when Kumori spoke, despite the low voice, and the distance, his words carried over to the hole in the ground where both beings lay.
"How dare you." He repeated it again, and fuelled by something he had never felt before, he took a step towards the hole, not even noticing if Lazarus tried to stop him. This wasn't his battle. But...he had gotten involved, through no fault of his own, and now it was personal.