Chapter 56- Divine Madness

Morpheus’s whole face began gushing blood as it started to heal. His eyes had been completely blown off from the shockwaves.

He knelt down on two knees, a bird flew down on his shoulder and began chirping in worry.

Apart from the unbearable pain, he still was mad with anger. He slammed his fist on the hard stone bridge as he healed. He yanked his axe out of the shaman's shoulder and put it in his pouch.

A leg fell down from the sky, landing next to Morpheus.

He looked up to see only three bright lights left floating in the sky. Lucifer and the guild master seemed to be winning.

But now his anger was directed towards the Scarecrow. They had found him again.

The lights in the sky suddenly vanished,

The Abomination was clinging to the side of the great pit. Lucifer let off a deafening screech and jumped away towards the mountain.

A loud cheer of victory came from the wall. The vultures had dispersed and all the grey goblins were dead.

Morpheus’s eyes began to twitch again.

“Fuzz! Cloak now!” He shouted.

The shadow disappeared into his master's cloak, afraid from the tone of his voice. Morpheus grew his wings and took off after Lucifer, his rage getting the better of him.

In the distance, he could see Lucifer emerging in and out of the trees and then vanish behind a mountain.

Morpheus circled the area, trying to spot the enourmous abomination. His eyes pinged onto a naked man bent over a boulder at the foot of the mountain, wheezing and coughing.

He glided down just a few metres away.

Lucifer was still hunched over a rock looking away from him. He wore nothing at all and was smeared with blood.

Morpheus was about to speak but Lucifer raised his finger without looking at him.

“Stop, I’m not here…” He barely said and then proceeded to throw up bones and guts of the goblins he had just eaten.

“I’m not here to hurt or spy on you.” He said followed by a wheeze.

Morpheus didn’t answer, instead he ran up and kicked Lucifer in the stomach, sending him flying into a large rock.

The young chimera took off his ring.

“Is this what you fucking wanted?” He screamed.

Lucifer groaned, he was always at his weakest after transforming.

“Stop.” He managed to say but the young chimera wouldn’t listen.

Morpheus teleported over to him and began punching him, each punch getting faster and harder than the one before. Even when one of Lucifer’s teeth got stuck in his knuckles he didn’t stop he was engulfed by rage.

A tattoo began to burn itself into the top of his neck. It was the image of Morpheus biting the shaman's neck, a lady with black wings over his shoulders, clutching his chest. She was kissing gently him on the cheek.

Warning! You have reached Divine Madness.

Congratula….Warning! Due to reaching Divine Madness. You have received the Mark of Madness from Lyssa.

Due to receiving Mark of Madness you have been given the title ‘Frenzy of Lyssa’.

You have unlocked a new stat: Sanity: 7

The lower your Sanity number the closer you are to insanity, the higher your sanity the further away you are.

“Ahhhhh!” He screamed in fury as Lucifer’s face became bloody and bruised

The man-eater’s right arm grew twice in size, and punched Morpheus square in the chest. He flew backwards straight into a large tree, his head smacking off the bark.

Morpheus shot straight back up and lunged for Lucifer with his nails extended. Lucifer dashed to meet him and threw him against the rock he was implanted to.

“Stop, I’m friends with… “

“I don’t fucking care!” He screamed and ran at him again. Morpheus teleported behind him and landed a kick to his head.

Lucifer barely budged from the kick, and sent him flying backwards with a kick of his own.

“I said I’m..”

Morpheus wasn’t listening to the naked man, he had just been marked for madness and didn’t intend on stopping.

And so the fight continued, he was no match for the Scarecrow. The only reason he kept concoius was because of his madness mark.

Lucifer’s legs turned grey and grotesque, gaining double his muscle mass. He grabbed Morpheus by his neck and shot up into the sky. If he wasn’t marked by a god, Lucifer would of killed him by now.

Morpheus clawed at Lucifer’s wrist but his skin was far to tough. A level hundred is leagues below a two hundred in terms of vitality and power.

As Lucifer’s momentum stopped beneath the clouds he pulled Morpheus below him. Morpheus was foaming from his mouth in rage.

“Morpheus can you hear me.” Lucifer shouted.

Sanity: 6

“Ahhh!” He screamed trying to claw Lucifer’s eyes out.

Sanity: 5

Lucifer smacked him in the face.

“Wake up Morpheus.” Lucifer yelled.

Sanity: 6

Morpheus stopped scratching at him, and he suddenly felt a sense of clarity.

Lucifer let go of him, and he began to fall.

The poor chimera had been through a lot over the past two weeks. He had been betrayed and cast aside, and his shadow was almost taken away from him.

And now, here he was, plummeting down to the surface of Arios. His cloak and hair baffled in the strong wind.

He didn’t grow his wings, just stopped and thought.

‘Why?’

‘I thought Arios was going to be fun’

Morpheus looked back at the scarecrow as he fell, he stared deeply into his eyes.

Sanity: 7

A flood of emotions hit, some happy, some sad, but mostly disappointment in himself. He couldn’t bare to think of how people would perceive him, a happy go lucky chimera, a gullible and stupid one.

Morpheus turned in mid-air and stared directly at the approaching ground beneath him, a tear ran down his cheek as he connected with it.

——————————————————

Lucifer looked at Morpheus as he began his free-fall. All he could see was confusing and pain in his eyes.

He too, started his fall but his strong legs did not pose a threat to the ground.

The stone cracked beneath his grotesque feet. Lucifer was still naked, one of the many cons of transforming.

He stood over the body of the chimera, he was still alive thankfully. If what Lucifer saw in his eyes was true, he couldn’t help feel bad.

Yet again, Lucifer was a Scarecrow. To even dare raise your hand against a Scarecrow would be considered a death sentence.

But here Lucifer was, feeling pitiful for him.

He sighed as his hand dissapeared into a different dimension and pulled out his clothes. Lucifer sat down on a nearby rock and began to dress himself.

He picked up two figures with his sense skill in the tree-line. It was the dagian and the bard that was with Morpheus.

“No use hiding.” Lucifer shouted over to the trees.

Big Sam emerged from the tree-line with his hands in the air, Hammer casually walking behind.

“We just came to check on Ja…” He said while looking at Morpheus’s body.

(Chimera, Level 99)

“He’s a chimera?” Big Sam asked, completely gob-smacked.

“It would be in your best interest to leave.” Lucifer said calmly as he buttoned up his shirt.

“I, but I don’t want to leave him there.”

Lucifer stared deeply into the dagi’s eyes.

“I said, it would be your best interest to leave.”

Big Sam nodded reluctantly, Hammer seemed to be more surprised than him. Big Sam grabbed his shoulder and walked off into the distance with him.

“You reckon he’s the one from the Bording?” Hammer whispered, but Lucifer could clearly overhear.

“Don’t ask questions.” Big Sam sternly said.

Hammer looked worried for the first time ever in his life.

——————————————————

Sanity: 12

The young chimera laid unconscious for an hour, the sun was still a few ticks away from setting and birds chirped in the orange light.

Lucifer sat on rock, waiting for him to wake up.

He brought out a yellow crystal.

‘Lucifer, be gentle with him. Bellona is with you.’

Lucifer clicked his teeth, this wasn’t an ideal situation to introduce himself.

Morpheus opened his eyes slowly, his head was still spinning. All he could see was the ground very close to his face, he bent his head slightly and looked up. The sun had turned a deep orange and birds were signing a song in the trees.

Morpheus felt slightly hazy but rather clear headed, even if he had just recieved a mark of madness.

He was stuck half a foot into the ground from the fall, much like how a cartoon would portray it.

His hand grabbed onto the edge and he slowly pulled himself up. He looked around his surroundings and saw Lucifer sitting on the rock.

Morpheus panicked and fell backwards onto his arse.

“Relax Morpheus.” Lucifer said.

Morpheus didn’t say anything, still terrified of the Scarecrow.

Lucifer sighed.

“You reached divine madness, I had to knock you out. Other wise you wouldn’t of stopped.”

“You’re not gonna kill me?” Morpheus asked.

Lucifer breathed in and composed himself.

He walked over to Morpheus while clearing his through, he then outstretched his hand.

“My name is Lucifer Wood Morningstar, I’m a friend of Brevair."

Morpheus slowly raised his hand and grasped his. He was still absolutely terrified of the man.

Lucifer pulled him up from the ground.

“Why are you helping me?” Morpheus asked.

“I’ll get to that.” Lucifer responded.