*Malcom POV*
*Location: Gotham City, New Jersey*
*Date: January 1st, 2002*
Eventually, we arrived at a large section of the sewers, which wasn't a junction point, nor was it connected to a manhole; instead, it looked more... crudely made. Like a huge section of the tunnels was destroyed and molded into a larger room. It was also the worst place...so much blood and death surrounding us, fused into the walls themselves. The rot and insects form a perfect symbiosis, and all of it centered around a dark hole, a hole that emitted no light nor sound of insect buzzing, but instead a welcoming feeling.
Looking at Wallace, I could see the fear in his eyes as the scratching got worse, the scales starting to spread as more bits of his skin fell off. I could tell that even if he had no connection to The Corruption, just being near one of these was making his condition worse; whatever his connection with these things may be, it was growing stronger.
"Wallace...are you sure you want to contiune? There's no shame in turning back, in trying to preserve the normality you have left."
He just looked at me with a smile as he stopped scratching for a moment, trying to resist the temptation to scratch.
"I'm good, Malcom, I'm good, besides someone needs to watch your back, might not be good at magic like you are, but I'm pretty strong."
Nodding my head, I slowly approached the tunnel going downward, the cracks and dirt as insects crawled out of it. Looking around one last time, I could see the various skeletal remains of both humans and animals, each one shoved into the tunnel walls, forced to live longer, a little longer anyway, as insects fed on them, as diseases festered in their bodies. Who knows what nasty concoctions this place had brewing and whatever plans, if any, the thing causing all this had? For all I knew, it was possible that it was an artifact going out of control and that no monster was causing this.
"Well, Wallace, I hope you have a strong stomach because I have a feeling this is where most of the sewer garbage and water's been going."
I could hear him grimace, but well, he was wearing dark clothing, and I had the unfortunate idea to wear a white trenchcoat with various bandages attached to me. Pretty sure that once this was all done, I would need a deep clean, both physically and magically. Hell, I didn't know if this place hadn't already tried to infect me with something, and my basic protection sigils stopped it or barely stopped it anyway.
The only reason Wallace here was still relatively fine was that something wanted him to change, to become an avatar of some kind. Going down the tunnel, I made sure not to slip up as I could quickly feel more and more of that disgusting sewer water rising. At the very end of the downward slope, it nearly rose past my boots, and the slush was heavy as I contemplated whether or not blood was mixed into this or if this deep metallic smell was something else.
I could tell Wallace was more used to it based on the lack of gagging sounds I was hearing alongside the fact that I, too, was used to it. Whether or not that was a good thing or not, I couldn't tell. Didn't matter though, as we went further in, the lack of light in the tunnel only further intensified my growing fear, the skittering noses and slush sounds as we went further into the newly created tunnel. Although even that word 'newly' was starting to lose meaning, as I truly had no idea how long this place had been here, or if it had always been here, with it simply being modified by the entity's power.
Didn't matter, though, as slowly the tunnel lit up, revealing a tunnel full of copses, both old and new, some of whom I could tell were taken from a nearby graveyard, with others being the rest of the homeless who were taken, some probably from the tunnel area Wallace showed me, others from maybe other parts of the city. Either way, the police would have a field day with this, well, once I made an anonymous tip or Wallace does, either way, they had their work cut out for them.
"Wh-Wh-What the fuck is this thing doing with them? What's the point of all this?" Wallace shouted, now more used to the disgusting things we were seeing.
Ruffling through my pockets, I got out a pack of matches, taking one out and lighting it before responding.
"These things feed on fear, on that very specific emotion and anything else associated with it. Sometimes they let you live with it, continuing to feed off of it for years, but sometimes...sometimes they kill them, sort of like selling some stock for immediate profit instead of keeping hold of it for long-term profit."
"In the end, these things are parasites, well, most of the time anyway, as there are a few humans who are gifted unnatural abilties, serving them in turn."
"In the end, though, that's all they are, parasites feeding off of us for their own nourishment, and well, let's just say it's never pretty."
With the match lit, I began chanting an incantation in reverse, quite literally as well, my spell casting was similiar to Zatara's, in a way, anyway, they were far more adept at it and didn't feel the backlash from it. Although I was still somewhat drained from the other spells, I was recovering and had enough for this particular spell.
"Thgis Thgis, enog eb yht thgis dna emoclew eht swodahs."
Then the fire from the match went pitch black and in one quick movement shot towards both of us and engulfed us in darkness. Not exactly an invisibility spell, but it was the next best thing; the spell itself was designed to make us as dark as a shadow, to have us blend in with our surroundings, like a homeless person, the people you pass by every day and ignore.
"Be careful, the spell will hide us for a bit, but if this thing gets clever, it could find us through brute force, well, that is if it has eyes or some other sensory organs."
*Sigh*
"But for all I know, it could be some messed-up artifact going on autopilot and just needs to be destroyed or whatever needs to be done to stop all this."
Wallace just nodded his head as we kept walking, and as I dropped the match behind us, the fire long went out after the spell was activated. Going down the tunnel still, I began to have a nagging feeling that something was about to happen; the hairs on my neck were starting to stand up, and I looked behind to see Wallace's condition growing worse, his neck now covered in scales as he quickly covered up.
"Wallace...this is your last chance, your condition is getting worse and...and I'm not sure I could help you if it gets far enough, before we may have had a chance, but now...now the chance is just going further down."
I think he stopped for a second as he looked at himself, feeling his skin and seeing all the bits of his old skin that fell off. Alongside this his body, his body had grown considerably and was now more muscular than before.
"I think we both know that it's...it's too late for me, but could you at least tell me, tell me whose doing this to me, I-I don't think it's whatever causing this, but it's better safe than sorry, right?"
I looked at him, my bandaged face barely hiding my pity for him and the uncertainty I felt at this moment. I took out a single gem, one I transmuted from some bits of trash, which would serve as a decent conduit, but not as good as a naturally occurring mineral. This particular one was a quartz crystal, a good conduit for spiritual stuff, as well as magic, and could tell me which of the entities was laying a claim on Wallace.
Putting it over his head, I began a small chant, a spell that wouldn't drain me of mana but just a tiny bit of stamina, a simple spell to tell me the nature of the entity.
"Wohs, Wohs, wohs em siht tsaeb erutan."
Then a series of flashes went through my mind, one of a bunny running away from a large, hungry wolf, another of a hunter aiming his rifle at a deer. Each one of a different predator and prey, sometimes the roles twisting and turning, as sometimes supernatural creatures were mixed into the visions. Each one gave me a similar feeling of smallness, of being nothing more than some prey staring at the maw of a hungry beast.
I jerked my hand back as I stared at the now useless piece of quartz, the blackened mineral now used up and having no further use beyond decoration. Wallace just looked at me, confused and scared as I began to walk once more, him following closely behind.
"Wh-What happened? What did you see?" Wallace said with a bit of desperation in his voice.
"I can safely say that it's not The Corruption making a claim on you, although I won't rule out any subtle influence it may be having on you; these...things are more connected to each other than you think."
"Although as far as entities go, this one...this one may be the more...controllable one under the right conditions, it's The Hunt, the fear of being nothing more than prey, and of being chased, one of the primordial ones born from the earliest animals."
"Like I said, though, you can control yourself under the right conditions."
"Either way, I'd be careful, lest you want to become an uncontrollable beast yourself."
We didn't talk much after that, as we eventually made our way to the end of the tunnel, the final room of this accursed place. It was a small room, barely the size of a bedroom, and in the center were two figures and a rotten, unnatural-looking scorpion carcus. It had two extra arms and heads, with five tails in total sprouting up all around its body, and eyes; its eyes seemed to still somehow function and look all around us, no at the both of us as I saw that Wallace had grown into a near hulking brute, barely fitting in the tunnel now with scales all over his body, as his body now truly looked like a humanoid crocodile.
Meaning that I just wasted a spell for nothing and mentally slapped myself as the two figures bowed to the artifact in reverence. They slowly rose up, and while they weren't as big as Wallace, they were still as terrifying. Both were half-malformed insect creatures. I couldn't tell if they just used some homeless people's corpses or if they did this to themselves. Right now, it didn't matter, as I cracked my neck getting ready for a fight as they roared out, charging forward.
I didn't know if my strength and protection sigils would hold out, but I just hoped to whatever god was listening that they'd help me as I spotted a rusty old pipe on the ground, probably dragged in by one of the countless homeless, probably in an attempt to defend themselves. I smiled as I picked it up as Wallace charged forward, more like a brute than a fighter at this point, and unused to their body as well.
One of the creatures jumped on him, trying to claw at his front using its pinchers and biting its neck as it tore off both old skin and new scales with Wallace's scream echoing throughout the tunnels. The second one charged at me, its mutated arm raised in the air, ready to slam down on me, and as it came closer and closer to me, I stepped to the side and, using both hands, I slammed the pipe into the side of the creature's head, smacking it to the side.
They took a single step back, nearly slamming into the currently fighting Wallace and the first creature, both of whom were clawing and slashing at one another, their blood pouring onto the floor. As the beast brought itself back up, and instead of letting it have another go, I charged forward and began slamming my makeshift weapon into the beast's head, its skin falling off alongside bits of its exoskeleton.
It roared out and tried to slam its fist into me, but I was a bit more athletic, and as I jumped, I grabbed hold of its face. Not even thinking I slammed the end of the pipe into the creature's eye, jamming it right into its head. It let out a blood-curdling scream as it grabbed hold of me and tossed me into a nearby wall, the creature clearly in pain and panicking. I felt my back slam against the wall, and while my protection sigils might've stopped my bones from breaking, I could feel a jolt of pain rush through me as I slowly got up from the floor and saw the unprotected artifact.
Seeing my chance, I ran forward and, with a quick leap, I grabbed the artifact as it somehow clawed me, trying its best to pierce my skin, all in a vain attempt to infect me. The two creatures then looked at me and screamed as Wallace picked his up, slammed it to the ground, and began to punch it over and over.
The one I injured, though, it was free to charge forward and did everything it could to try and reach me in time, to protect the artifact that had created it. Unfortunately for it, though, while my enhanced strength didn't get me to true superhuman levels like the three beings in this tunnel, it did give me an edge as I slowly ripped the scorpion apart, its shrill screams disorienting the two beasts as they cried out, the very walls screaming alongside them with the various insects scattering.
Once it was torn in two, the two beasts screamed in pain as blood rushed out of their pores and the carapace that helped make them fell off. The only thing left were their bodies, and the rest of the tunnel began to shake as slowly black smoke began to fill it up, the substance that once clung to the wall disappearing. I could hear the thump of various corpses falling to the ground with a wet lump.
Wallace just looked at his now dead opponent, tears in his eyes, and blood on his hands realizing that he could never go back, truly realizing now that everything has changed for him forever in this moment.
...And I helped cause it.