“____” speaking

‘____’ thoughts

*____* telepathy

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The tree spirit's P.O.V.

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My spear left a lovely round hole in the little fire spirits head, the splattering blood and brains looked absolutely beautiful. I was sad to have to kill this one; it had been so much more fun than the others that had wandered my way. Humans don’t have the same pain tolerance as spirits do so the fun never last nearly long enough.

*Eat it.*

*Skin it.*

*What about the tiny one?*

*Eat it too.*

The voices were back and the cacophony of noise in my head was wonderfully painful. It felt so good being corrupt, nothing but endless power and happy madness. I listened to the voices and made my way over to the fresh body. Walking to the little fire spirit became difficult due to a scum that was sitting on the water.

‘I don’t remember doing this. Oh well fix that up right quick.’

Simple wave of the hand should do the trick just add in a little water Arcane to help.

‘What’s this? The scum persists!’

My actions had done nothing and I looked for the source of the scum that was slowly turning into slime. The closer I got to the little fire spirit the thicker the slime became.

‘Oh? Now what?’

The body of the fire spirit was twitching and jerking around on the ground, sending ripples through the slime. After a brief span of spasms, a light exhale was release from the once dead spirit. With a slow calculated method, the fallen body slowly raised itself off the ground and into a standing position before me.

To my surprise the hole was still present in the little spirit’s head, but what happened next cause the voices in my head to stop. The wound was healing and not slowly as if healing Arcane had been used. No this was a darker power. The voices erupted all at once.

*Like us!*

*Kill it!*

*Run!*

*Eat it!*

I ignored the voices and watched in fascination as all of the wounds that I had decorated the little spirit with slowly closed and heal, returning it to normal. This new find elated me. A toy that wouldn’t break no matter how much I played with it, what more could I ask for?

While caught up in my revelries, I failed to notice the fire spirit raise its lantern up. Its movement towards me got my attention and the now yellow flames made me shudder. Unlike the previous flame, this one was nasty, just looking at it hurt. The fire spirit pulled some fire from the lantern into its hand and I readied myself.

Instead of throwing the fire at me the little spirit squeezed the flame into a shape. The yellow flames slowly condensed into a ritualistic knife that held the same light that the flames had.

*We are strong, attack it!*

*Hurt it!*

*Eat it!*

*Run!*

I believed the voices. We were strong and had beaten this toy already; doing so once more should be easy enough. A simple command to a nearby vine to whip the spirit should have the same results as earlier.

The vine sped towards the fire spirit only to continue on past it as if it hadn’t connected. The vine that was supposed to hit it was been cut. I snarled and sent more vines at the little spirit only to have the same result. Its knife was brandished with skill that had been forged from experience and instinct and would have impressed any sane spirit, but I was not sane.

More vines were sent after the fire spirit as it calmly advanced towards me as I had done to it earlier. Just like it had, I slowly began to worry about my safety. Nothing was working to slow it down. Vines were cut, thorns were burned and my spears avoided like they moved in slow motion. The entire time the knife the spirit was wielding had grown longer and seemingly sharper as well. Everything that was cut by the knife vanished as if eaten by a void.

*Too close!*

*More vines!*

*Run!*

*Kill it!*

The fire spirit was in arm’s reach so I swung at it to knock to back. My blow felt like it connected by the sudden lose of weight told me otherwise. Bending over, the fire spirit picked up my now severed arm and ignited it in yellow flames. Unlike the other fire, this one burned me and I felt drained just watching the arm turn to ashes that were also consumed.

I had been trying to regrow my arm and was about half way done when the fire spirit return its attention to me. A wave of vine meant to distract were turned into mincemeat and went up in flames even after falling into the water.

*Use water!*

*Kill it!*

*Eat it!*

*Run!*

Heading the voices words I sent spike of water at the spirit. Instead of hitting they simply evaporated upon getting within a foot of the little spirit. I let out a roar and charge the little spirit only to receive a knife to the gut. The wound burned worse than any flame ever had. Two steps back pulled the knife out of me, a yellow liquid that sizzled when it hit the water was leaking out of me like molten metal. The little spirit was stronger than I had taken it for, much stronger than me in every regard.

*Hurts!*

*Burns!*

*Pain!*

*Run!*

The voices had never lied so I turned to flee only to have my path blocked by the slime that the fire spirit had exuded. Water Arcane didn’t work to break apart the slime tentacles the first time I tried and my repeated attempts were fruitless. One of the tentacles wrapped itself around me and the other retreated to the fire spirit hovering behind it awaiting instructions.

Held fast by the slime tentacles I could do nothing as my newly regrow arm was once again separated from my body. Having cut off one arm, the fire spirit moved on and cut off my other arm and both of my legs. The look of delight the fire spirit wore made me feel sick, but I had done the same and the strong are always right.

The fire spirit sat down as if it was waiting for something. Seeing this as a chance to fight back I sent some vines at it while regrowing my limbs. Like before, the vines were cut like they were made of paper leaving my attack useless. I had regrown my limbs, but that fact didn’t help me escape. Then the spirit spoke. It spoke in the same language as the voices in my head and it terrified me.

“Now, you will feel true pain and fear.”

For the next several hours each of my limbs were cut off an inch and the wounds cauterized with a brief period of waiting for them to regrow. At one point I stopped regrowing them myself and the fire spirit started to do it instead. I could feel my already broken mind slipping more and more into madness and insanity.

The fire spirit eventually grew tired of my decreasing reaction and lit my fresh limbs on fire. They slowly burned away everything until they reached my body and then stopped. I was then gutted like a fish until my voice would no longer work and I could no longer feel the pain. Ever so slowly the flames crept over my body and started to burn me again. I was being reduced to just a head that was barely hanging onto life and the little spirit wanted it that way.

There were no more voices in my head, only screams of pain and agony until I was just a head. Satisfied, the fire spirit strolled over to my tree, swinging my back and forth in a harmonic yet violent manner. I was placed on the ground as the fire spirit climb up to the top of my tree and spoke one word.

“Watch.”

With a snap of the fire spirits fingers the end of every branch on my tree ignited and burned. A thick black smoke bellowed from the top of the tree as the smell of burning wood and rot reached me. I was left to view my tree burn down to the ground leaving behind a pile of ashes. Another snap and the ashes also ignited and slowly disappeared into nothingness. The fire spirit turned to look at me, its bloodshot eyes looked past me and at something deeper before speaking again.

“Your turn.”

I was pick up and one of the voices was pulled out of my head.

*What is happening?*

*So much pain!*

*Run!*

Another voice was removed.

*Too strong!*

*Can’t fight back!*

Once again the fire spirit finished and took another voice from me.

*Must hide! Must ran away!*

The last voice was taken from me, leaving me alone with only my own terrified thoughts.

Once it had finished with the last voice, the fire spirit returned its attention back to me. Reaching towards me the fire spirits hand seemed to enter me but not at the same time. The hand was slowly withdrawn while holding onto a small glowing crystal tree. It was my soul.

I was no longer sure the little spirit was a fire spirit. No spirit I knew of had the power to rip souls from a living being. These thoughts were brought to a standstill as the fire once again started to consume me. Even if I was going to die, I would watch this little spirit until I was no more.

I could see my soul in front of me as I slowly burned. The little spirit touched it and all of the corruption was pulled from it and into a ball at the tip of the spirit’s finger. Once my soul was devoid of corruption, the spirit raised the sphere above its head and released it to fall into its open maw. The sphere was swallowed whole and my soul was put inside the lantern that I now knew held an all-consuming flame.

I watched with the last of my consciousness as the little spirit collapsed onto the ground.

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AN: Three in one day, man you reader sure are lucky! Hope you enjoyed the different P.O.V. and the chapter. I'll bid you adieu until next time.

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