Defiance of the Fall

Just before the cloud overtook him , he took one last deep breath of fresh air . Soon after the world turned purple , and a stinging sensation made his eyes tear . He couldn’t see very far ahead anymore but could only keep moving forward as long as the air in his lungs let him . He madly dashed as quickly as his broken body allowed toward where he remembered the closest peak to be . Still , he knew it would take over 30 minutes at his speed to get there , and even then he might not be safe .

The wounds of his body seemed to be entrances for the poison as he started to get nauseous even though he kept his breath so far . After a while he couldn’t hold on any longer and was forced to inhale a lungful of poison . He immediately started getting extremely woozy , his power quickly leaving his legs . The strength of the poison truly was on another level compared to the fumes down in the Herald’s cave .

As he started despairing over what to do the familiar sight of the magical pond entered his vision . He lacked the luxury of having time to think things through , and immediately jumped into the azure water . He would have to risk meeting a pond monster , as even a few more breaths of that poison would kill him .

He planned on swimming down to the bottom of the lake and hopefully find a passage down into the mountain . Since the water was crammed full of cosmic energy Zac guessed it was connected to the crystal mine somehow . But he only managed to swim for 10 seconds deeper into the pond before his whole body felt like it was on fire . It was the water , as it seeped into his body through his wounds , and perhaps even his pores .

The heat quickly became unbearable , but it only kept building up . Meanwhile , his insides were churning from the poison , only adding to his misery . Zac’s whole body started to swell up , and in seconds looked completely bloated . His whole skin was red and if he wasn’t underwater he’d likely be steaming from the heat .

Zac felt hopeless and desperate . It was heartbreaking to think that he actually managed to defy all odds and beat the incursion , only to end up in this situation . He had killed the four heralds personally , and even helped set the stage for the general’s death by destroying all his protective treasures and forcing him to expend all his energy in the fight . Almost two months of ceaseless life-and-death struggles , only to explode from over-ingesting super-water .

Completely unreconciled , Zac made one desperate attempt to survive . He grabbed one of the fruits from his pouch and tore into it with his teeth . An unimaginably sweet taste exploded in his mouth and made him almost forget that he was dying . It was by far the tastiest thing he had ever eaten , and it felt like he was munching on something that gods feasted on in ancient stories . As he swallowed it a fresh cooling sensation entered his body , immediately sweeping the poison away .

He devoured the fruit completely apart from some juices that leaked into the water , completely frenzied from the taste . He even accidentally swallowed some water with the fruit as he forgot himself from the otherworldly deliciousness . The cooling sensation spread throughout his extremities as he feasted and actually started combating the burning sensation from the magical water .

Zac was relieved as it looked like his gambit had been successful . But the relief didn’t last for long as his body quickly started to go from blazing hot to freezing cold , over and over again in quick succession . Two forces were fighting for supremacy , and the ravaged battlefield was Zac’s body .

Even though he was underwater he couldn’t stop himself from desperately screaming in pain , with even more water filling his lungs . He couldn’t even register it as the pain was all-consuming , far worse than getting burned or stabbed in his chest . With every change in his body , it felt like his cells were melted down into a puddle , then frozen solid again by the freezing cold of the fruit .

Zac sensed that his spirit could collapse at any moment , and every second felt like an eternity for him . Soon he couldn’t take it anymore and brought out a dagger from his pouch . With his last energy stabbed it toward his throat , hoping to quickly end the suffering .

The dagger tore into his throat and then sunk to the bottom of the lake as Zac let go with relief . He felt a sting of shame when thinking of his family that he never was able to save , but he felt they would understand if they knew what he was going through .

But the sweet release of death didn’t arrive . The wound closed with visible speed and soon his neck was as good as new . Zac despaired , not knowing what to do . His body wouldn’t listen to his commands anymore , and his brain was overtaxed by the pain signals bombarding his synapses .