From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 30: Traitor

The massive Corruptor moved with unnatural fluidity, its void like head with a single eye scanning the wasteland for new prey. I watched it turn, my breath caught in my throat, the black water’s numbing effect barely keeping my terror at a manageable distance. Its attention shifted across the field of wreckage until it fixed on something.

Far to our right there were Silas and Petra, huddled behind their damaged glider, unaware they’d been spotted. They were too focused on themselves, Petra pressing a strip of torn fabric against a wound on Silas’s side while he tried to steady her shaking hands.

I wanted to shout a warning, but any sound might draw the monster’s attention to us instead. Cold calculation waged with desperate empathy inside me as I watched the scene unfold, knowing there was nothing I could do.

In that instant, Silas looked up, finally sensing the danger. His eyes widened, mouth forming a silent ’oh’ of comprehension. He grabbed Petra’s arm and pointed toward the Corruptor. No words needed.

They ran.

I’d never seen Silas move so fast. His stocky frame concealed a surprising agility as he pulled Petra behind him, both of them sprinting directly toward Argent’s shimmering barrier.

"They might make it." Coco said, his voice barely audible over my thundering heartbeat.

They covered ground with desperate speed, their forms growing smaller as the distance between us increased. The barrier was getting closer and closer to them.

Hope, a dangerous emotion here, flickered in my chest.

But the Corruptor had only been temporarily distracted. As if sensing the escaping meal, it pivoted with alarming speed. It didn’t run after Silas and Petra, It flowed. Its body stretching across the terrain like water finding the path of least resistance. The distance it covered in seconds should have taken minutes.

"No." Rolen breathed beside me. "No, no, no."

Silas saw it coming. He pushed Petra ahead of him, a final act of sacrifice that bought her perhaps three more seconds of life. The Corruptor reached him first, its form engulfing him from behind. There wasn’t even time for a scream. One moment he was running, the next he was simply... gone, absorbed into the void of the creature’s form.

Petra made it another two yards before the Corruptor caught her too. Her hand was outstretched toward the barrier, close enough that I could imagine she felt the heat of its protection on her fingertips before the darkness swallowed her.

I closed my eyes, unable to watch the end. When I opened them again, the Corruptor stood motionless, as it had after consuming Cobb, as if digesting its meal.

"Coco." I said, my voice a rasp. "We need that black water now."

He nodded, pale and shaking, but functional. He took Kira’s canteen, the one I’d switched from Darien, and observed it carefully. Instead of touching the liquid, he held his hand just above the mouth of the canteen, eyes fixed on the dark surface within. His breathing slowed as he studied it, memorizing it.

"It’s... different." he said through gritted teeth. "It’s resisting. Like trying to juice a rock."

Sweat beaded on his forehead, his complexion going ashen as he poured everything he had into his ability. He grabbed his own canteen first. The clear water inside began to tremble, small ripples forming without being touched. Slowly, impossibly, the color deepened, bleeding into black. The faint metallic scent rose almost immediately.

"Rolen’s next." I directed. "Quick."

He switched to Rolen’s canteen, repeating the process. Each transformation seemed to cost him more, his body visibly weakening with the effort. By the time both canteens were filled with black water, he looked ready to collapse.

"That’s all I can do." he gasped. "It’s not like regular water. It... fights back."

"It’s enough." I said, not knowing if that was true but needing him to believe it.

"Uncap the canteens." I instructed. "The scent will devoid ourselves from feeling stronger emotions and mask the rest."

We began moving cautiously across the wasteland, following the path Darien and Mira had taken earlier. The route took us at an angle away from where the Corruptor stood, still motionless after consuming Petra and Silas.

From our new vantage point, I could see more of the battlefield. Ember’s glider was now fully engulfed in flames, a funeral pyre she’d built for herself. The fire was dying down, and I couldn’t see her form anywhere. I didn’t want to think about what that meant.

Closer to the barrier, I spotted Darien and Finn. They’d separated from Mira and Yami, who had taken a slightly different path. Darien moved with purpose. The barrier was getting really close.

"Look." Kira said suddenly, pointing at the Corruptor.

It had finished its motionless pause and was moving again. But not toward us, not toward the closest prey. Instead, it flowed directly toward Darien, as if drawn by an invisible beacon.

Darien sensed the danger too late. He broke away from Finn, his head snapping toward the approaching void. His face transformed from determined focus to raw panic. His hand went to his hip, yanking the canteen free. With a frantic twist, he uncapped it, hoping the familiar metallic scent would bloom and mask the terror rolling off him.

But there was no scent. He stared into the canteen’s mouth, and his eyes widened in horrified understanding. The water inside was clear. Ordinary. This canteen held only water.

He changed course, abandoning Finn without a second glance, sprinting toward where Mira walked with Yami. His face contorted with fear and betrayal. Fear of the Corruptor closing in, betrayal from whoever had taken his protection.

"MIRA!" he screamed, the sound carrying across the wasteland with horrible clarity. "TRAITOR!"

The emotion in his voice was like blood in water, drawing the Corruptor faster. It flowed across the ground with impossible speed, catching Darien mere yards from where Mira had stopped, her face a mask of confusion.

He didn’t die quietly. His screams echoed across the wasteland as the creature absorbed him, the sound distorting into something inhuman before cutting off abruptly. Mira stood frozen, her hand on her light blade, watching as her rival Zero, vanished into nothingness.