Shadow parasite

“I want to contribute with something, I want to help you…” said Nora slowly, her previous rage no longer visible.

Gorn sank into thought. Having a few helping hands wouldn’t be so bad. The problem was that, at the moment, a power level of five hundred was barely sufficient. On the other hand, putting someone he cared about in too much danger was also a hard decision.

“I understand… In that case, from now on, you will be my personal bodyguard. The same situation will most probably happen again. When that moment comes, I want you to take care of my body until I regain consciousness.” In a way, there wasn’t a need to say these words. If such a situation arose again, she would most probably protect him again, even without him telling her to do that. The recent experience was proof of that.

Nora looked at him with a serious face. “Alright!” hearing him say those words made her feel like she was useful now. At the present, she had a mission, an important mission at that. This fact made her happy, and excited at the same time.

Seeing her facial expression changing for the better, Gorn smiled. “A few extra measures need to be taken. While I can help you get stronger, that will take some more time… Do you have any ideas?”

Nora moved her fingers through her long black hair. “I want you to take in Mara as a bodyguard as well. We have good synergy, and things will become much simpler if we are together.”

Gorn got up, and started to stretch his stiff body. There were numerous holes in his leather armor, but thankfully, most of his injuries healed. His natural healing ability coupled with his regeneration skill was more than enough to deal with any minor injuries.

“That’s not a bad idea, but only if she wants. After all, things can become pretty dangerous, and I don’t want to force anyone to take risks for me,” said Gorn in a serious tone.

Nora nodded. “I will talk to Mara myself, and tell you her response later.” Even though she knew her twin sister very well, she still wanted direct confirmation from her.

“Wonderful! Now, please tell me everything that happened during the time I was unconscious. Don’t leave even a single detail behind.”

Nora also got up. Briefly stretching her body, and arranging her clothes, she started to narrate everything that happened. “It all started with…”

Gorn listened with great awareness, looking for potential answers, or clues. Nora told him everything that happened from her perspective. After some time, she finally finished. “This should be everything…” making a few pauses here and there, she took her time to fully recount the events.

“I see…” Gorn nodded, then sank into thought. To better digest all the information, he started to move around a little. Nora watched him attentively.

After a few minutes, Gorn started to control his shadow in multiple ways. Seeing part of his shadow darkening by a few nuances, and taking the form of a frightening mouth, sent chills down Nora’s spine.

‘This is much harder to accomplish than last time…’ thought Gorn. The first conclusion that he reached was that the shadow consumed a lot of power to bring him into that strange state. ‘This weird power seems to be slowly regenerating on its own. Then what happens when I absorb the essence or whatever that is from other creatures?’ some things could be felt, and needed no further confirmation.

The natural answer to that was pretty obvious, however, Gorn suspected an additional thing. ‘While absorbing the essence from other creatures can most probably hasten the recovery of its powers, I highly suspect that part of that energy is used to increase its overall strength as well.’

Taking into account the last events, the moment the shadow recovered its full power, or got stronger, he would experience the same situation more or less. This was something that he considered very plausible. ‘Furthermore, it seems that strong stimuli can make me lose the control over my emotions to some degree…’

This whole tribulation was complicated, but at least, a few changes started to unfold. ‘Just what is that bizarre place that keeps me trapped? Is it all just a bad dream?’

The more he thought about that matter, the less he suspected that it was merely a nightmare. Gorn had plenty of dreams in his life, and there was a clear difference between the two situations. It was hard to explain, but he could just feel it.

‘What should I do with this shadow of mine?’ in a way, he was very intrigued by it. ‘I can’t feel any animosity coming from it, and it sure brings quite the useful abilities, but, why is it messing with my emotions?’ that fact was unmistakably a disadvantage.

‘Everything must be connected somehow…’ if he wanted some answers, he had to go further down the dangerous path.

Coming in front of Nora again, he spoke: “Are you someone that keeps their word, or do you like to talk jokingly about serious matters?”

His question sounded weird, but Nora kept her composure: “I’m not the type of person to speak jokingly about important things. At least, I’m trying not to be like that…”

Gorn kept a stoic face: “You said before that we can do anything that I want. Is that still valid after everything that happened?”

Nora remained silent for a few breaths of time. By the looks of it, she seemed to carefully analyze him. In the end, she spoke: “It is still valid.” After saying those words, her cheeks became bright red, making it quite obvious the nature of things she had in mind.

Seeing her blushing, and being so obedient, made his heart race on the spot. Black marks appeared on his neck yet again. They slowly extended towards his face, and eye.

This time, Gorn was paying full attention to his feelings, and what was happening to his body. At this instant, he could clearly feel a strange type of power slowly getting stronger, and making him act more on instincts than on pure judgement.

Nora watched anxiously what was happening. “Your neck…those black lines…” last time when this happened, things ended up quite messy.

Gorn smiled: “Don’t be afraid. Things are under control this time.” It took him a great amount of willpower to deal with that strange energy, but things were still under his control. Getting full advantage of the situation, Gorn familiarized himself with this new feeling, and how to deal with it. Some time later, his black marks disappeared, and everything returned to normal.

Seeing this, Nora breathed out in relief. While he didn’t hurt her last time, what followed wasn’t pretty either.

“Thank you!” said Gorn while grabbing Nora in a tight embrace. After a few pleasant moments, he continued: “Let’s go back to the others, they must be quite worried by now.” He previously said that he will come back every evening, something that didn’t happen. It would be only natural to think that something must have gone awry. This was the second day, so their worries shouldn’t be too big.

In the next moment, both of them disappeared from that place. After everything that happened, their bond currently stronger than ever.