"What the fuck?!" Myra shouted angrily after being launched from Ira's back, glaring after Ira who was leaving her behind.
She couldn't make out his visage or smirk through her blurred vision and the darting flashes of color as the chaos of battle unfolded around her. Her anger subsided quickly with understanding. Still, bitterness lingered with how quickly he came to a decision and tossed her off.
A faint roar rising snapped her attention back as she drifted sideways, and a red energy wave tore off the head of a corrupted dragon. Myra felt the faint red aura leave its corpse as it fell. She avoided absorbing it before because she had Ira's protection and didn't want to risk harming him if something went wrong.
But now, alone and surrounded by foes, as she narrowly avoids sharp strikes from roots jutting up from the ground attempting to impale her, continually felling enemies...
'Was this danger worth it? Could I have overcome the red mist by myself if I had some confidence in myself?' Myra doubted herself. 'Did I really have to leave my people to find answers?'
Even with her blurred vision, she could tell more and more dragons were falling. Their essence, both friendly and enemy, left trails that she could sense, though the lingering familiar red mana stood out more to her. It was very tempting to reach out to it.
At some point, though, she could no longer hear the sounds of battle surrounding her. The world around her shifted as a violent surge from the abyss faded the world around her. She clawed frantically at the light when she realized what was happening, but it was no use. The world around her was now swirling in shades of red and black, with dark red veins arcing through it like lightning around her.
The faint, ominous whispers were no longer faint nor whispering, but she still couldn't understand the words. What they did do, however, was stir her emotions of hatred and anger, with it feeling like a rising tide within her.
"My body," Myra said, confused. Her body was like the mist, dancing with the colors of the darkness, but somehow holding its own visible outline against it.
Images of her family and tribe flashed through her mind. Anger toward her god for leaving her people bereft. Resentment for giving her powers that brought her torments she fought to defeat in her youth. Her mind renewed its resolve using the resentment toward these creatures, a desire to beat down Ira again, maybe even kill him, as the new pillars of strength.
Myra blinked, gritting her teeth to the point where her gums bled, her fingernails drawing blood from her palms, as she looked up again.
The faint, towering outline of the tree shimmered into view. Every fruit that bore a face in the physical world bore a face of her fallen kin.
Happy, sad, some angry and blaming her. But...
She tilted her head as she studied them more closely. While she felt the familiarity, there actually weren't any faces she could recognize. Most of them were blurry, even.
As if in response to her recognizing this deception, the trunk of the tree coiled and groaned in displeasure. The mouths of the fruits widened and red mana shot out toward her.
Its intent was clear and no longer attempted to be hidden. The desire to enslave her. To brand her with an invisible collar that bound her to the tree. Whether or not she would keep her free will came down to the tree's desires.
"Deceptive and manipulative. Opposite of the dragons," Myra smiled wryly, her gaze wandering over the aura surrounding the tree.
Around Myra, like an embryo of black and red mists, dark red veins pulsed with life. Around the tree? Pure, red mist, or red mana that glowed. And the beams of energy impacting the embryo around her were penetrating like roots digging into soil. They curled and stretched, trying desperately to reach her with malicious intent while she stared at the tendrils with amusement.
But it shifted quickly from amusement to cold, unforgiving wrath as her gaze snapped back to the tree. She felt, subconsciously, the tree's psyche flinch and start to pull away. But her wrath, her anger at everything: this situation, the Smiling Tree's attempt on her life, Ira-
"I'm going to kill you now."
No longer holding herself back out of fear, she began to suck in the surrounding energies in the void. Immediately, the Smiling Tree was on the retreat as it felt her growing power, but her own red mana whipped out and pinned it in place. It writhed, twisting and fruits screaming, as Myra continued to absorb the energies.
Her eyes snapped open, glistening red, and she unleashed the torrent of energy she had absorbed. Crackling lightning, sizzling flesh- smells that hadn't been present in the void now began to assault her senses. She realized, as the fruits of the Smiling Tree of Wishes began to fall, that her mind was returning to the physical world.
"They are dying like flies," Myra said. "I'll absorb their mana and finish off the rest. And with this power, the dragons will have no choice but to help me and protect my people! Ira, I have not forgiven you."
Myra's eyes snapped shut again, feeling the torrents of power flowing into her, giving her a sense of overwhelming might. Power that far exceeded her previous limits, and that could make her previous struggle with Ira look like child's play.
Eventually, after the power returned to a simmer, Myra opened her eyes again with indifference as she gazed around at the fallen. Briefly, she glanced down at her figure, now a deep hue of red, before shifting her gaze to the land around her that had turned barren and desolate.
"This is the price, and the gift, to protect my people..." Myra muttered, her eyes resting on the seared dragon corpses, starting to connect the dots.
Their seared flesh, still radiating with the remnants of her power, stiffened Myra. She felt fleeting anger again, but this time at herself. Her glorious plan, moments ago, was already falling apart in her head.
–Ping–
Myra's head snapped up. On a blue popup, in a language she had never seen before but could somehow understand, a question was posed to her:
"Congratulations on becoming the first Demigod of this world, An-Ki! As a reward, would you like to speak with your God for ****** time?"
'God. My people, bereft. My peace, stolen!' Myra's emotions flared. 'And more dead because of powers you gifted me without warnings.'
She knelt, nodding as a red mist and bright light began to envelope her, but her expression was tightened.
'You will answer me.'