Corrupt Creations

What was real darkness? If someone asked Seth that question before the events that happened today, he would certainly smugly show his pure dark element and tell that person he or she was actually seeing what was the true definition of darkness. However, only now, he was able to realize how wrong he was. 

Seth felt like he had been swallowed by a black hole. Other than feeling Lan Xue's body that he was embracing tighter than ever; he wasn't able to feel anything else. His sense of vision was thoroughly useless and even his Soul Sense and energy scan were being suppressed so hard, that he couldn't sense anything at all, not even if there was an elephant right in front of him. Inside that dark environment he wouldn't be able to see or sense it at all. 

However, if we're talking about darkness, Seth was totally accustomed with that. That was not what was making him feel anxious and even fear right now. What was making all the hairs around his body stand, was the complete silence there. 

The most fearsome thing, was not being able to hear anything. Even though they were falling down at a very high speed, the water bubble didn't let the sound of the air resistance reach his ears inside. Actually, because it existed, it kind of stabilized their falling speed and suppressed the sounds from outside, what made Seth experience one of the fearsome situations of his entire life. 

Seth tried to use his Mana and create wind elemental energy around him and Lan Xue and hover in the air, but whenever he tried to do that, he felt his Mana being suppressed and a greater attracting force pulling them down. It was so strange, that it was just like someone was purposely doing that. 

Seth's hopes were starting to fade away and in order to not turn completely crazy, he decided to completely focus on healing Lan Xue's wounds. But once he started, he felt how weak were his healing powers were while being suppressed. He could barely delay the worsening of her injuries and when he increased the intensity of his Evergreen Essence to the maximum, he was barely able to slowly heal her body. 

However, nothing he did was able to stop the slow advancement of the Crimson Corruption inside of her. He had no way to control it, just like no one could control the direction of the ocean waves. It didn't even feel like he had that same power inside of his body. 

"Damn it!" Seth shouted while feeling flustered. But suddenly, he felt Lan Xue's body weakly moving. 

She slowly opened her eyes, but it was just like she hadn't opened them at all. That sensation of total darkness was really strange. However, she was able to feel there was someone holding her closer. 

"Who are you? Where am I?" She wasn't able to see who was holding her and when she tried to feel that person's aura with her scan, she felt like that ability was totally suppressed. It was like her Mana didn't worth shit at the place she currently was. And since they were being supported by the water bubble and there weren't any air currents crashing against their bodies, she wasn't even able to feel that they were in the middle of free falling. 

Even before hearing the answer to her question, she started to weakly squirm around on Seth's embrace, trying to free from whoever was holding her body. But it was to no avail. 

When Seth heard Lan Xue's voice, the silence was broken and he was finally able to feel he wasn't alone on that smothering and fearsome situation. There was someone going deep down that abyss with him; Lan Xue was with him. His "heart" was finally able to have some small piece of peace and he unconsciously held her tighter, not letting her leave from his side. 

"Release me!" 

"Calm down! Lan Xue, it's me, Seth. Please calm down." Her weak struggling process was actually making his broken arm hurt, but other than changing his expression, he held that pain inside. 

"Seth? Why are you holding me like this? Where are we now?" 

"I'm sorry for holding you so close, but I'm healing some of your injuries now." He used that fact to calm her down, but it didn't make too much sense for him to be that closer to her for only healing purposes. Seth was actually gluing to her because he was feeling fear and her company was able to calm him down. The only other hopeless situation like this one that he had been in his life, was the situation with the Cerberus Clan. 

"Release me, please. There is no need for you to embrace me while trying to heal me." 

"No! I can't!" 

"What?! Release me!" 

"There is no way. Even if I release you, there is nowhere you can go." 

"Wh... Why are you doing this?" She tried to move away from him, but her body was too weak to accomplish that, even increasing the intensity of her struggles was a hard challenge now. 

"Because we are inside the Forbidden Lands now! Actually, we are in the middle of free falling and it's been half an hour already. Throughout this whole time, I am not able to feel anything else apart from you, and... And that's why I won't let go of you!" 

"..." 

Lan Xue stopped talking, making the silence return once again. But this time, Seth wasn't bothered by it, because he noticed she was trembling. Her body started o tremble after she heard they were inside the place people referred as the Forbidden Lands. 

Lan Xue kept trembling for some time while Seth didn't know what to say and how to comfort her. Until suddenly, she stopped. Even her struggling stance had stopped. It was like it didn't matter for her anymore. 

She closed her eyes and stopped trying to see anything, staying still, unbothered by Seth's presence and contact. 

Seth immediately understood what that meant. She had given up leaving from that place alive. She had readied herself for death, what Seth couldn't accept at all. 

"You... No... This is not right. You can't give up like that! We are going to leave this place alive, don't give up now." 

"... Don't give up? What should we do then...?" Lan Xue said in a low voice devoid of any life. She was usually expressionless, but now, she had the "without hope" semblance that caused depression on anyone that could see it. However, no one was able to see anything there. 

Although he wasn't able to see her, Seth was able to feel her condition through the tact and by hearing her words. 

"We are going to leave this place; you have to believe me! You cannot give up like that... What about the Glazed Lake Sect? What about the Palace Masters? What about your grandmother? They are all waiting for your return!" 

When Lan Xue heard those words, for the first time in her entire life, she started to show another expression on her face. She was feeling mad, no... Actually, she was feeling hatred! She started to hate Seth for bringing her this calamity; She hated him for what was happening. 

"IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! EVERYTHING!!! IF NOT FOR YOU, NOTHING OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED! TO NOT GIVE UP?! WE ARE INSIDE THE FORBBIDEN LANDS!!! I JUST GOT MY GRANDMOTHER BACK, BUT NOW... SHE WILL LOSE ME!!!" 

Lan Xue yelled, she yelled so hard that even tears started to leave from her eyes, drenching Seth's broken arm. Impressively, those tears made him feel a hundred thousand times more pain than his arm that was broken. 

Seth was thoroughly shocked. He never expected Lan Xue would react like that. Not even Lan Xue herself knew she had a side like that inside of her. 

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Suddenly, Seth started to wildly and uncontrollably laugh. Instead of feeling wronged, he started to feel happy. 

"Why are you laughing...? Is it actually funny?" 

Lan Xue was about to outburst once again, but Seth suddenly said: "Yes... Hate me! Hate me with all your strength and keep living with the desire to kill me! Once we leave from this situation, make sure to do it, because I will make sure the both of us leave from here alive! No matter what!" 

His words made Lan Xue silent. She got so confused that she even forgot the hateful sensation that had appeared inside of her moments ago, giving birth to another indescribable feeling she wasn't even able to recognize. 

Seth felt thoroughly satisfied as well. At least her death readiness had disappeared and his anxiousness vanished alongside his new objective. For him, she was what would fuel his desire for victory in this complex situation. 

Silence kept accompanying them towards the ends of the earth; however, this time, none of them seemed bothered by it, since there were a thousand plus things passing through their minds. 

There was no way for them to know, but they had already fallen for more than a hundred thousand meters and there were no signs it would stop yet. That was really the deepest abyss they would be falling in their lives and soon they would realize that.