Chapter 433: Crystal [#1]
As the bloody blade of the machete approached his face, Kaleb braced for impact- only for it to never come. A soft golden glow seemed to come from above, and as he opened his eyes, he saw the sunrise. He did it. He survived until sunrise- whatever being that brought him here guaranteed he wouldn't be in danger if he survived until sunrise.
"..." He looked at the hockey mask, the beast of a man covered in blood looked down at him- they were both clearly confused, but before they could say anything, a single red line shot out of their chests and connected to one another. They intertwined before a knot was tied, and with a snap, the two red lines had become one. "Ah." His chest started beating quicker, his body growing warm, and he felt... confused? Yes, he was confused, but the confusion didn't come from him. "Oh no. Oh fuck-" He lifted his head to look at the man before him, but a hand shot out and pulled his neck. He was lifted up, but for some reason the hand around his neck wasn't tightening its hold at all. "Oh fuck, please don't kill me-" The masked man froze and his hand released him immediately, making Kaleb fall on his ass.
He felt a shock of surprise, anger, and hesitation go through his body- the masked man picked up his machete and he aimed to strike him- only for the blade to stop an inch away from his face. Frustated, he tried again, and again, and again- and nothing worked.
He was incapable of harming the smaller man.
"Uhm, this is awkward..." Kaleb whispered as he leaned a bit forward: "So, ah... Hi? You were, like, chasing me to kill me and stuff- That's chill, surprisingly you're not the first one to try and kill me, so I guess... Can you, like, let go of me? I'll go this way and you go the other, okay?" He tried to pry his arm away from the man as he held him, but Jason was having difficulties understanding what was happening... He raised his hand to punch the little man, but the very thought of hurting him made his whole body freeze like a deer in headlights. He tried to force himself to do it- Mind over Matter -but his body refused to move and even his mind wavered. Why is he even trying to kill this guy? Sure, he invaded his home, but... he can't. Frustated, he decided only on one thing: Since he can't figure out what's happening right now, he might as well try to figure everything out later.
After he rests.
"So, uhm, bye...?" Jason ignored the strange magical man and kept walking as far away as he could- even his dislike for trespassers couldn't make him hurt the man, so he might as well not even try. It started hurting- the very thought of hurting him made his body hurt instead. Thought of chopping his head off? He felt his own neck hurt like his head had been chopped off. Thought of drowning him? He was brought back to his horrendous memories of when he was drowning as a child. Thought of burning him alive? His entire being was set alight inside his mind.
It was a morbid curiosity that made him continue to think of ways to kill the man- and each time, he felt like he was dying exactly of that.
It was fascinating in a morbid and horrifying way.
"So, uhm, where are we going?"
He stopped moving. Slowly, he turned around and stared- more like glared -at the young man who had followed him? Why did he follow him? Is he stupid- oh, Jason can't kill him, so he decided he could follow him? I mean, if Jason can't kill him, maybe the wildlife can? He just turned around and ignored the small man as he walked away, not bothering to speak to the weird magical man. He tried watching him move, but he didn't? He stood still, and as Jason watched, the red string appeared again. He kept walking, hoping to somehow sever the red string- and when he was further away from the little man, the red string snapped. 'This is it.' He thought: 'My opportunity.' And as he was ready to attack, something fascinating happened.
The little man appeared right beside him.
One moment he wasn't there, and then he was. Simple as that!
'Magic. Again.' Two words echoed inside his mind as frustration growled within- he almost gave in and attacked the young guy again, but he seemed scared. Wait- he can feel his fear like it was his own. 'I can feel his emotions? Can he feel mine too?' Once more curiosity overcame his desire to kill a trespasser- he didn't seem to mind, as his body and mind shied away from violence relating to this cute little guy.
Wait, cute?
"So, uhm, I guess I can't be too far away from you? Trust me man, I don't really know what's happening either, so, uhm... I guess I have to follow you now."
There didn't seem to be any other option.
——
"Fuck!" With a sharp grunt of pain, Kaleb looked down at the root he just kicked trying to keep up with Jay- his name was Jason, so Kaleb decided to call him Jay because nobody else was around and he wasn't going to get killed. Besides, Jason was clearly annoyed by it but also fond of it- like a nickname he was called before. Kaleb wasn't very... keen on Jason's lore. He knew he was Jason and that he killed people, but besides that? He only knew that he was supposedly very attractive and with a dick the size of a horse.
Or that's what he got from that one time he spent a few hours looking through some art on Rule 34 that even of 2019 when he was horny and curious about Slashers and their porn art.
And right now? He thought that maybe those artists were right.
Jay helped him- he started to get annoyed that he was too slow, it seemed, because he was soon on the man's arms. Arms that he thought were going to kill him before sunrise but now felt weirdly attracted to.
What? Don't just judge him! Jason is a big big man, he is also very dangerous and there's a sexual vibe to that, he is also tall and very manly too, in a dangerous way... like most me- Kaleb is just a simple homosexual, he sees big strong men, he swoons.
Monkey see, moneky do.
Or is done, preferably by a hot masked guy- What does he look down under his mask? If he is disfigured, that's okay too. Kaleb has spent most of his life taking care of his late grandmother and she had been disfigured by her husband who threw acid in her face to "make sure she never remarries" because she was a beautiful woman. In spite of all of that, she met his grandfather and they got together and had 9 children, the youngest being his mother. He lived alongside his grandmother after his mother died, taking care of her as she grew too old to properly remember what was going on around her and her late diagnose dememtia didn't help either.
Well, he did say being chased down by a machete wielding maniac wasn't the first time somebody tried to kill him, didn't he?
Now, picture this- Old lady running at you at the speed of an athlete runner with a pair of scissors in hand. She is screaming about wanting to kill you at the top of her lungs, and you are just a 7 year old boy. Yeah, kinda funny- Kaleb doesn't feel much fear of people trying to kill him because he kinda got used to it after about 10 years of that because his aunts and uncles refused to put her in a nursing home and refused to hire somebody to help, so he did it all by himself until she died when he was 17, and then he was promptly kicked out of the will because he was gay.
You know, ungrateful bitches... He hopes they all died by now.
He doesn't know, he just woke up in a weird room when he got run over by a car- that he is pretty sure was owned by one of his many cousins... He doesn't really care now anyway. Where was he? Oh, right! He woke up in a weird room and this mass of flesh and shadows morphed into a woman who smiled at him and said: "[I see... you are worthy of a second chance, but for a life of happiness you need to go through many trials... Do not worry, I guarantee you shall be beautifully compensated for your pain and suffering with boons.]" And like that, he was thrown off into this forest... Then the voice said: "[Survive until sunrise- by sunrise, you shall not be harmed.]"
And here he is!
"Fuck-" He stumbled again, and this must've been the straw that broke the Jason's back, because the mountain of a man growled like an animal and turned to look at him with his eyes literally glowing red: "-o-oh, hey... Uhm, I'm not good at this whole, uh, walking thing? I mean- I have spent 22 years of my life walking, and somehow I'm still bad at it, I know, pathetic right?" Kaleb felt like Jason was frowning beneath his mask, and before he could even think, there were arms around him. "Eh?"
In an instant, he thought he was going to be given the legendary bridal carry- only for him to be thrown unto Jason's shoulder, his head towards his back and his ass close to Jason's masked face.
"...kinda disappointed, but thank you?"
"Hmph."
Kaleb watched as the woods around them grew thicker and wilder, there was this sort of spooky vibes floating around, and Kaleb could swear he felt something watching him- And that was when he heard a whispering voice within his mind: "[A boon once more given, to delight your addled thoughts- For this is your husband's domain, so shall it be yours. Although, you shall have a... more useful control over it.]" Huh, neat!
Immediately, the coldness receded and he felt like he knew where everything was around him- he could feel exactly where a bunch of corpses were buried, where bags of bones were dug down on, and where a bunch of weapons could be found from axes to even more machetes. He felt the ground, flush with death that fed the plants, he couls feel the nests of birds and the deer frolicking around. He could feel the leaves of trees swaying in the wind, and he could tell how far these sensations went. In an approximate 1 mile radius around Jason's cabin, which was... decrepit? It was broken and dirty, and he was bringing him right there.
Once inside, he felt it- the home. He saw a younger version of Jason building the cabin by hand, he felt him place his mother's decapitated head, he felt the sheer rage and sadness that emanated from him, he felt this... thing reach out and pluck Jason out of his home, and he was gone, and then he was back again to this place but he was so sad. He felt the heavy loneliness tearing him apart, being alone for so long making him a bit desperate for help, he saw him make little dolls with the corpses of the campers he killed just to have someone around, and he felt this cold sensation gripping the walls of this place like mold.
And he felt the mold too.
Then there was a... thread. Right on Jason's domain- it wasn't made by him, it was given by something, a spider? He hated spiders! With a single metaphysical pluck from his invisible finger, he snapped the black and moldy purple thread connecting Jason and the spider made of shadows, hearing it screech loud enough to make his head ring. Immediately, he was shoved off of Jason's shoulder- He began shaking his head rapidly, his hands going to his ears, and the ground around the property shaking.
He could feel the spider trying to pull back the domain, and with a simple gesture, he slapped the spider away.
And the spider of shadows was gone. Easy!
"Urgh, I hate spiders."
Kaleb did not notice, however, was that Jason was looking at him even more intensely than before.
'...'
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