Banished: Resistance is Futile

[28]

We return to where we last left off with Xisuma and Scar...

"X...?"

The man in turn coughed hard, body shaking. "Shhhh, calm." Scar held onto the admin's arm weakly, just trying to provide a sense of comfort and stability.

The wizard's own vision was still blurry after coming to, but he felt more rested and more in control of his body.

What a weird thing to think.

"Easy there, X." Xisuma was trying to sit up, arms shaking and body shaking.

"'m fine."

"Dude, you almost died."

"I'm... I'm fine." He positions himself against the wall and a little less on Scar.

"You don't look fine, and you don't sound fine." Indeed, the veins under the admin's skin were a dark purple, and his skin was noticeably pale. Xisuma's voice was weak and dry. "Do you need water?"

He pauses, eventually giving in. "Need honey tea. Found it works well." He closes his eyes.

"Tea... where's the tea?"

"Shop. Closet. Shelf."

"Got it."

^*^

After he returns and magically brews up the tea, the two sit there, sipping on the steaming hot liquid, held in two also magically brewed mugs, courtesy of Scar. The rain outside had slowed to a drizzle but something still felt off.

"My brother's here."

"...what? I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"My... my brother. Y'know."

"........Evil......X?"

"Xanthus, but yes, Evil Xisuma. I banned him for a reason, not just- not just because he was annoying." X does laugh a bit at that.

Scar's silent, continuing to listen.

The sound of his forced lightheartedness fade, a distant look entering his eyes. "...has Grian told you much about his past?"

^*^

The world is quiet, but it's a deadly quiet. The kind of quiet that makes you think and feel in manipulated ways, that sends shivers over your skin and through your bones, mind left to your imagination. Fog covers the shopping district, dark tendrils laying across the roads and atop buildings, accompanying the mushroom vines creeping over everything. It rocks Grian to his core.

He keeps his wings pinned to his back, willing the blaze in his hand to strengthen, knowing the blue of his eyes has changed to a glowing purple.

Jellie keeps close to his heels, her fur standing on end. 'We're not going to be eaten, yes? That's not something this demon can do?'

He'd respond with more than a shake of the head if he wasn't scared of drawing attention. Everything was too quiet, too still, and any sound would stick out like a light in the void.

Grian's even wary of his breathing, feeling every inhale and exhale flow into his lungs before returning out, changed.

Breathing was a good analogy for a lot of what happened, it dawns on him. It's something you rarely think about, something natural, but when you do focus on the air, it's strange. Foreign, almost.

He's shaken out of his thoughts when he hears voices, soft and fast ahead of him. Familiar voices, he notes. Not even the fire in his hand can keep the unnatural chill away.