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The sword meetings were always utterly boring. Sword hated attending them, but he was required to since he was the all-important protégé of Venomshank. It was mind-numbing. None of this even involved him. He kept staring at the clock hoping that time would pass quicker.
He stared around, briefly analysing each figure towering over the table - they really were giants. His mentor was sat right next to him; occasionally, he'd peer down to check up on Sword.
Darkheart. The only other deity he knew. He was... a bit strange to say the least. From what Sword knew, Darkheart liked to tease and toy with him, much to Venomshank's dismay and fury.
Firebrand. Windforce. Ghostwalker. Icedagger. Illumina. Names. They all went in one ear and out the other. He held his breath, directing his gaze around the table again. Illumina. There was a sudden change in the air. He suddenly noticed the god was staring right through his soul, despite his lack of irises. Sword's head shot down so he could not see the deity in his peripheral. Illumina's gaze was powerful and profuse, almost as if Sword, by sheer dominance, was being forced to submit to an incredible force that he had no possibility of comprehending its true potential. He was small. He was weak. He was malleable.
It was a force that only he could sense. No one else noticed. He was the target. He was prey. He was to be caught. He was-
He was sweaty. It was hot. He couldn't think. He wanted to go far from here. He needed to.
Sword shut his eyes sharply, fingers clawing into his legs. Whatever he did, he could not shake the feeling that he was being watched. Prodded. Judged. All eyes on him. Why were the deities so weird? First Darkheart, now this guy?!
Venomshank took note of his impatience. "Fledgling, this'll wrap this up soon, then you can go hang out with your friend Rocket," He offered as words of encouragement, but they fell on deaf ears. Sword was too fixated on blocking it all out. He couldn't hear anymore.
His body was going numb. His throat was dry. His eyes were stinging. His legs and arms were stiff. The god continued to pick him apart from afar, seemingly basking in the bliss that came with observing that boy try to refuse to submit. He hoped so hard his mentor would pick up on what was going on. Please. It's all he wanted.
Please can it be over. Please can it be-
"Hey, fledgling, it's over. We can leave now," Venomshank uttered, tapping his shoulder lightly. Sword was brought back to reality and out of his deep, endless trance.
"Oh, yeah," Sword said, shakily. He was torn. He was disjointed. What just happened. He stood up slowly, keeping his balance and following behind the deity.
A small trip later and he was back on the bustling, lively streets of Crossroads. Safety. Promptly, Venomshank waved goodbye to Sword and they parted. Now to go to Rocket's place! Though, first he did need to stop by his house to grab a few things. He ran through the alleyways - they were like a maze, but Sword had been living here long enough for them to be second nature to him.
Almost there!
Danger.
He turned the corner.
White robes.
Sheathed blade.
Tall stature.
Milky white eyes.
One bright angel wing.
He froze immediately in the figure's presence.
Illumina.
He had hunted him down. Great. Sword really was his prey. Sword met his gaze, his beaming confidence and excitement crumbling to dust within an instant.
"You." His voice was demanding. Desolate. Absolute. Like he would not take 'no' for an answer and felt nothing. "You're different."
Different. Different how?!!!
Sword didn't know what to say. No words were coming to him. He was blank. His mind was blank. His body was tense and it would not move an inch.
"You're different from the other mortals." Sword was not flattered by that statement. It was weird. What was different about him?
"You show promise. You have potential." That was something that he vaguely remembered Darkheart telling him before, but he just thought he was joking around because that's always how he acted. He wanted to be safe. Why was Illumina here? What did he want? Why did Venomshank have to leave?!!
"Don't worry mortal, I just want to understand you." He was not comforted. The phrase that was just uttered made him feel even more petrified. "You interest me."
He displayed no emotion.
He did not flinch or acknowledge the words he was speaking.
He did not change.
Everything had slowed down around them.
"You shall become my follower." Illumina said, Sword unaware of what that truly meant, but he was picking up on the implications. Before Sword could offer any objections, the deity put a hand around his neck sharply, and began transporting him somewhere - somewhere unfamiliar. There was a swift flash of many mesmerising shades of pink, blue and purple. It was shocking how fast this was happening. He held his breath the entire time.
When they had been fully transported, Sword opened his eyes slowly - it was so bright. It was blinding. It was like he was standing atop the blazing sun.
"For your greater good and safety, you shall reside here now."
"What??! But, Crossroads, Rocket, dad..?"
"Ahh.. yes.. you won't need them now. Though it will be interesting for me to study your attachment them. They seem quite important to you."
"Yes, please, they do mean a lot to me! I don't want to be here! Please let me go back!!" Sword pleaded.
"You're the only mortal I have deemed worthy of this. You are special. Shouldn't you be grateful for what you have been gifted?"
"I mean yes.. but this seems sinister..." He spoke, slightly defeated.
"Kneel."
Before he could even think, before he could even process what he had been told, he fell down onto his knees, his neck bent up, looking up to the god stood in front of him. Sword was so small. So tiny. He couldn't do anything to stop this.
"Shut your eyes."
He oblidged. Sword could feel two fingers brush against his right horn, seemingly tracing something around it. It made him wince. Then, he could hear Illumina muttering something in a language he did not understand. After that, he could feel a weird, ethereal energy resonating around that horn.
"Do you swear absolute obedience to me, my follower?" He was within Illumina's grasp and could not escape now. If he wasn't under the influence of any mysterious magic, he would've declined quickly. He had a family. He had friends. He had the phights. He had a lot left out there. But there was no way of fighting the power and presence that a deity wielded.
He was gone.
He was not alive. He had the ability to move but his heart was dead. It had been starved, suffocated and choked. It did not cry out in pain.
His hair was now long, white and fell past his shoulders like curtains, and had the appearance of fine silk. His irises had been purged of their colour, and his skin even more pale and sickly than before. Glowing lines and engravings run down his cheeks like circuitry, and a similar looking rune was secured around his right horn - a fierce, unbreakable lock. A reminder that he was bound eternally. There was no escape. There was no hope. There was no defiance. For, he no longer held the capacity to defy or make decisions or think or feel or live.
He was a vessel. Stripped of what he previously cherished.
A blank slate.
Nothing.
His clothes had been disposed of and replaced with ivory robes and gleaming, pearly armour. Clean and shiny. However, there was one last thing that came as a side-effect from his forced connection to the god, Illumina - a pair of huge, graceful angel wings.
More of a curse than a blessing.
They were far too small to actually fly with; not that his god would really want him doing that often. They were a burden. All they did was just hang on his back, like useless dead weight.
The follower had not seen anyone but his all-mighty god in ages. Though, he no longer had the desire to - he lost that ever since his control over his body had been partially overtaken by Illumina.
Most of the time, everything was a blur. Nothing happened. He'd walk around the temple. He'd walk around outside. Illumina would observe him.
The follower stood idly in place. He was not his own. He was not himself.
A noise.
His head turned around quickly and rather robotically, eyes locked onto the entrance to the temple. Illumina most of the time left it shut, which meant he spent a lot of time trapped within the walls of what seemed to be a holy building.
It creaked open.
His handed inched onto the pommel of his sword.
Was Illumina back? No. He would know already.
So who was this?
He steadied himself, and prepared for battle.
Though this was not someone who would fight him.
The figure rush through the doorway, and froze.
A god.
Venomshank.
"Sword...?"
He did not recognise this person.
Whoever this demon was, he was not going to let them stay here for long.
The follower unsheathed his blade cleanly.
He needed to make his god proud and dispose of this demon. It was his sworn duty, after all.