Chapter 48: Chapter 32: Suit Of Pentacles

Duncan stood in front of a swamp engulfed in a strange, thick green fog. Duncan's nostrils were blasted by the powerful stench of ammonia, mud stained his robe, and he could feel the intense humidity in the air.

Wong, who had just exited a portal, stood beside him.

"Where are we at this moment?" Duncan inquired. "Zambia? Indonesia? or simply just Louisiana?"

"Florida," said Wong calmly. "National Park at Everglades."

"Oh, that makes sense." Duncan whistled. "A dude lives here?"

"Not exactly," Wong said as he began walking towards the fog.

"What does that mean?" Duncan arched his brow as he followed the man. The mud and murky water made it difficult to move around; they moved more slowly and clumsily as a result.

"The person who lives here is no longer human," Wong explained. He then cast a spell throughout the area, clearing the fog that was obscuring their vision. As he did this, Wong and Duncan could hear a roar in the depths of the swamp, which made both of them alert.

"That does not sound like a human." Duncan explained. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Not really." Wong shrugged. "This is my first time here."

"What?" Duncan furrowed his brow. "How come you've been put here?"

"The sorcerer supreme gave me the task of helping you."

"Help me?" Duncan was befuddled. "To do what? She just told me to meet someone here."

"Your purpose is to help the person within this swamp," Wong explained as he walked slowly across the muddy landscape.

"Why does he need help?" Duncan inquired once again.

"Because he’s not himself." Wong went on.

Duncan didn't ask anything else after that, and they both continued into the swamp.

They both spent over 30 minutes exploring the dark and filthy bog. The sun was setting, and the light of the world was gradually dimming.

Finally, the two arrived at their destination. Duncan noticed a little cabin constructed barely above the murky waters. Duncan surmised that people travel to this location in tiny boats, but he didn't spot any at first sight.

"So, who exactly is this "guy" we need to save?" Duncan inquired gently as they reached the cabin. "Is it a monster? A dimensional beast? An alien from outer space?"

"A scientist," Wong said, building a short bridge so they wouldn't have to swim to the cabin.

"Wait a minute, I thought he wasn't human."

"That is correct." Wong nodded and walked slowly towards the cottage. "A botched experiment bonded him to this location."

"So he’s a beast?" Duncan inquired once again as he approached the cabin's deck.

"Call him whatever you want," Wong responded quietly. "Now, I’m warning you—do not fear him. He can use your emotions against you."

Duncan hummed. "How do you know all of this? You've been keeping an eye on him?"

"Yes. but we do not have the capability to cure him, and the sorcerer supreme told us that it is not the time just yet."

"You have a lot of faith in her," Duncan observed.

"I trust her judgment and her cause." Wong gave a nod.

Both then proceeded to walk towards the house. As they opened the door, a strong pungent odor assailed their nostrils, prompting them to close their noses.

"This place stinks of sulfur," Duncan mumbled.

"Like I said, be careful." Wong remarked.

As they continued through the house, they noticed that parts of it were literally ripped apart. The furniture was torn everywhere, there was shattered wood on the floor, and swamp vegetation covered the corners of the room.

Duncan then noticed something and approached it with a frown. He studied the discovery more closely as he knelt in front of it.

"A woman," Duncan explained. "Dead… parts missing, stomach opened, a fetus? And what’s this? looks like… Acid burn?"

Duncan spotted large indications of acid burn—the lethal kind that could eat through any flesh in seconds—around the woman's arms and hips, despite the fact that her body had been decomposing for some time. Duncan could also see that the woman’s stomach had been opened, and he could see a small fetus, rotting.

"Another one here." Wong added. Duncan moved his sight to Wong and saw a man's body; the acid had virtually eaten away at his head.

"Should we bury them?" Duncan asked.

"Later, after the job is finished," Wong said, taking a soiled cloth and wrapping it around both corpses.

Duncan let out a sigh. He simply got up and asked another inquiry. "OK, what are we looking for—"

"Watch out!"

When he heard Wong's cry, the boy turned around and looked at the window behind him. Through it, he beheld a small boat coming towards the home, whirling crazily in the air as though thrown by a powerful force.

On instinct, Duncan conjured a large, dark blue Eldritch shield in front of the window. The shield became larger as the runes were written in the air at a rapid pace, as if in haste because the boat was approaching.

The boat rammed into the shield on time. A massive shockwave rippled throughout the area, scattering aquatic life everywhere.

Duncan could see a gigantic figure standing in between fallen swamp trees through the window as the now-wrecked boat sank to the murky water below; its body had practically blocked the setting sun from the west, casting shadows around the beast.

"I have to save that dude? Not kill?" Duncan raised his brow at Wong.

Wong, on the other hand, remained silent; he was in place, two shields guarding his arms, ready for anything.

The beast then snarled loudly toward the cabin, as though a lion was warning an intruder not to enter its domain. The creature proceeded slowly towards Duncan and Wong, accompanied by tree and vine branches. The dark waters rippled, scattering the previously still floating silt.

Suddenly, a hard branch from the trees around the swamp launched towards Duncan, making a spear-like strike in a single line. Unlike most plants, which take days only to turn their leaves to face the sun, the branches move quickly. No, those branches and vines seemed to be an extension of the beast.

Duncan then summoned a thin pillar construct and propelled it towards the spear-like attack that was coming at him. The pillar slashed through the cabin's floor, splitting it in half, and split the branches hurled at him before twisting the pillar to the left and cutting the branches from the source all together, thereby terminating the attack.

"Kalyptos!" Duncan's body was instantly engulfed in bright azure flames that briefly illuminated the surroundings before his blue robe was replaced with a black one, completely transforming his look.

As the azure flame summoned him from the sea of Duncan's soul, his persona, Kalyptos, arrived just behind him. His six fallen angel wings were spread wide, but he wasn't holding his normal red book.

It was in Duncan’s left hand.

"Wong, could you tell me how to deal with him?" Duncan queried quietly while the book in his palm instinctively flipped through its pages, as if hunting for a specific one.

"Right now, his beast-self is dominating his consciousness." Wong explained, astonished by Duncan's abrupt change. "The human self must take control; you must make the beast self disappear."

"I don’t think that’s how it works…" Duncan murmured. "Consciousness… Of course, how convenient. Okay, I've got an idea."

"What do you have in mind?" Wong inquired as he went towards the hole left by the spear attack earlier and hacked down additional branches nearing the cabin.

"You need to buy time for me." Duncan stated quietly as his books continued to turn pages on their own. "I need to disappear for a bit."

As he said this, the page stopped flipping and presented the details of a spell.

[Palace of the Damned]

"Disappear? What do you mean?!" Wong inquired between attacks. But by the time he turned to face Duncan, he and his persona had vanished.

Wong grunted in annoyance, conjuring two swords that were chained to his very being, ready to defend himself.

—

Duncan stood in a rather strange place. It appeared to be the swamp from before, but the sky was filled with bright aurora borealis, which illuminated the darkness of this dimension. The full moon was shining brightly on top of the aurora, just where Duncan was standing.

The boy noticed an open region ahead of him, free of trees and branches, and there was a small island with a man cowering in the midst, as if scared of something. Duncan could see the moonlight make the man's skin gleam, as if sparkling, on that swampy island, which was immediately beneath the full moon.

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Duncan approached the man and learned he could walk on the water that surrounded the island when he touched it. When his feet reached the murky water, it rippled, and he could see the fish underneath dispersed.

Duncan kept walking towards the stranger, listening to his low whispers.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." the man cowered, continuously muttering an apology towards god knows who. "It's all your fault... You betrayed me... yet, my child, I murdered my own child..."

When Duncan stepped onto the island, he noticed that the man flinched, as if he sensed Duncan's presence.

"W-Who’s there?" The man inquired, his eyes filled with fear. When the man saw Duncan, he crawled away from him, as if he didn’t want him to be near. "D-Don’t… Don’t come near me... I-I’m a…"

"Monster?" Duncan raised his brow.

"Y-You know… So please… I-I don’t want any blood in my hands anymore."

Duncan sighed. "What happened to you, man?"

Hearing Duncan’s question, the man just grabbed his hair in frustration. “I– My fiance, she wasn’t the woman I knew… S-She betrayed me, or perhaps, m-more accurately, she never loved me in the first place… S-She just wants my work… I-I tried to escape, but— my work… it turned into a monster… I killed her out of revenge, as well as her accomplice… but I swear— I-I didn’t know she was carrying my child…”

“How do you even know that that child was yours?” Duncan questioned. “I mean, it could’ve been someone else’s.”

“N-No, I just know…”

“You just know?” Duncan raised his brow in doubt, before sighing again. “Are you really going to be like this forever? Being controlled by your other self?”

“That thing is not me!” the man practically spat, denying it hard. “That thing is not human!”

“You can’t deny it.” Duncan shook his head. “You’re not human anymore.”

“N-No…” The man shook his head furiously, continuing to deny it. “I-I can’t meet my mom anymore… god… No… I am not… that thing…”

When the man continued to shrink and wail, the beast materialized behind him, his eyes shone in the marsh darkness as he advanced slowly towards Duncan and the man.

In an instant, the azure flame called Kalyptos, and Duncan held the Apocryphon in his hand.

The beast leapt from the murky waters towards Duncan, its green fist aimed for the boy. Duncan swiftly created an eldritch shield; the runes wrote themselves in the air; and when the beast reached Duncan, its fist collided with said shield; its rune shook violently from the beast's force, but it held nonetheless.

The pages of Apocryphon flicked wildly and came to a halt on a specific spell.

[Chains of Restriction]

A black chain erupted out of the shadow of the beast, entering its flesh. The beast wailed in pain, but it was pinned to the ground. The shadows of the man cowering in fear emerged from the chains, creepily crawling around the beast, wrapping themselves around it.

Duncan could finally get a good look at the beast. He could see everything, its barky skin, flashing red eyes, and tentacles around the mouth.

"What are you doing?" asked the man aggressively, as if desperate. "Kill it!"

The beast continued to struggle, futilely attempting to break free. The boy simply turned to face the man. "If he dies, you die."

"W-What?" The man stumbled. "N-No…"

“Do you not get it?” Duncan asked again, slowly approaching the cowering man, before kneeling in front of him. “That is you.”

“No… No…”

“Come on man...” Duncan was a bit annoyed. “Listen. You told me you don’t want any more blood in your hands, so in order to stop that, you have to stop your other self from rampaging around the swamp. You have to take control.”

“H-How?”

“By accepting yourself.” Duncan continued. “Accept that that is you.”

Duncan pointed at the beast that was still chained to the ground, groaning in anger.

“But that is not—”

“Stop treating your new self as a mistake.” Duncan cut him off.

“I don’t want to live as a monster…”

“I know. But that’s life man, it’s not always going to be as planned.” Duncan answered. “You just have to learn to live, besides, if you can’t enjoy being the new you, you could always find a way to reverse it if you take control.”

“I—” The man stared at the ground deeply. “You’re right… I can’t deny what has happened to me…”

“Good.” Duncan hummed. “Come on, if you really think that the baby inside that woman’s womb is yours, you should bury it. Using your own hands, as a way to apologize, I guess.”

“The child… yes…”

The man then stood up slowly, walking towards the chained beast that was still groaning in anger.

“Stop this…” he murmured in front of the beast, which made it calm. “I… can’t deny that you are me. So, I will take control from now on, you don’t have to do anything anymore.”

And in an instant, the sky above Duncan cracked, as if collapsing on itself.

—

In normal reality, Wong was fighting for his life in the middle of the swamp. He was covered in mud, his robe was wet, and blood covered his hands and face.

He held his two swords tightly, swinging them around as his body nimbly moved around the area; even the mud restricted his movement. Every swing he did was efficient; it cut a branch that wanted to attack him, but alas, he could not stop them all.

A vine wrapped itself around his leg, and it pulled him out of the ground, turning him upside down. Wong was about to make his final move, but when he saw that a branch that was about to stab him in the heart stopped, he also stopped.

The vine then dropped him into the murky waters, and the rest of the living plants seemingly retracted themselves.

"You okay?" Wong heard a voice as he stood up from the swamp; it was Duncan.

"You’re right on time." Wong sighed.

"Sorry." Duncan murmured. His books then flipped themselves again and stopped at a specific spell.

[Dia]

A green aura then appeared around Wong, and it healed the scratches that he got in battle.

"So it’s done?" Wong asked, checking himself for other wounds.

"Yep." Duncan nodded. He now looked at the beast; he was walking towards the cabin, towards the corpse of the woman.

With the vines, he carried the corpse of the woman towards the swamp, where he buried it underneath the murky waters and placed a branch to mark it. After that, he just stood there, looking at the grave calmly.

—

Duncan and Wong now sat on a branch in between the swamps, along with the man, who was known as Theodore Sallis as Wong introduced.

The three of them just sat there awkwardly, not saying a thing.

But, finally, Wong started.

“So… where will you go after this?”

Instead of receiving a proper answer however, Theodore could only produce incoherent sounds and groans that both sorcerers couldn’t understand.

“Um… yeah, we don’t understand that…” Duncan said.

Again, Theodore made incoherent sounds and groans towards the sorcerers.

Duncan just sighed. “How about you go to Kamar-Taj? maybe someone will understand you there…”

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