“Havana, any signs of-”

The communicator was disintegrated by flame, turned into nothing but black ash to be carried away by the wind.

“ZURA, STOP THIS-”

“You’re nothing but a sniveling bug blinded by the illusions of friendship. You’re weak because you rely too much on the faith and strength of others. This is why you find yourself under the boots of the elite!”

Zura’s heel lifted off the insect mage’s head, and kicked her with steel toes right between the wings translucent wings on her back. Agony straining her voice, she flew, tumbled, and rolled away.

“I don’t know what that burnt dude did to make you like this, but I won’t give up on you, Z-Zura…”

Havana slowly rose from where she laid, then glanced toward the heel which abused her and held her hand out to summon her magic.

“Denizens of the Earth, survivors of time and inheritors of dust, come forth and break the spell which has seized my friend.”

She whispered with the hissed vigor of determination, a colorful mass of insects erupting from the ground and capturing Zura’s leg. Working as a team, the mass spread up her limb quickly.

Unfortunately, their progress was stopped short by a dark pulse emitted by the human ladder they scaled. The pretty hues suddenly halted, and were infected black down to the soil. Then, they disintegrated into the wind’s influence, joining the communicator.

To say the least, Havana was shocked. To begin with, these insects were highly absorbent of ethernano, meaning even magic of the intensity of Zura had little to no chance of effectively holding her bugs back without difficulty. Yet, Zura turned the insects into dust with disturbing ease. Moreover, Zura’s magic was always pure white, not tainted black.

Before Havana could say anything more, she found her head gripped viciously from behind. She was dragged up to her knees, and violent fingers found their way into her mouth. So many, so thick in comparison to her small jaw, she could not even begin to close her oral cavity. Caught like this, she was at the mercy of her former friend, who casually walked toward her with a stride oozing sinister confidence. Her normal mage outfit melted away to reveal the scandalously malicious new costume she donned, a stark difference from the bright modesty she once displayed. Havana felt tears come to her eyes, which were forced to stay open by her captor, while she stared at the Slayer of Light. A kick to the stomach brought saliva up and out of Havana’s mouth with a hack and choke, and although she wanted to double over, she was forced to continue looking at her transformed friend.

“This is no longer the companion you knew, no longer the Dispeller of Darkness you cowered behind and pressured.”

Said a voice immediately beside her ear, her strained eyeballs turning to witness the traumatized flesh and disinterested expression.

“She has come to realize the futility of friendship, she recognizes that you and yours abandoned her in her time of most need. And, now, she has been improved.”

Havana wanted to cry out against this presumption, she wanted to scream that he was wrong, but Zura acted quicker. The kneeled mage found her friend’s hand shoved into her mouth, the tip of her middle finger touching the back of her throat. Havana gagged on Zura, and it did not help that her backside violator moved his restraint to her nose, the pair completely inhibiting her ability to breathe.

“You too will understand what the truth of friendship is, what society has lied about. You will have those false notions and false emotions purged from you, and you will become a vessel through which others are educated. Quit your struggle and befriend the friendlessness. You will be in a stronger union with your cherished partner through the understanding that cherishing anything at all is useless, and that loneliness is the highest form of unity.”

As he spoke, her consciousness began to fade, her eyeballs rolling to the back of her head as her waking state weakened. Eventually, she succumbed to the blackness, and found her eyes transformed into voids like Zura’s.

Havana was released when the work was done, Zura’s enzyme-drenched hand exiting the cavity smoothly, the slime acting as easy lubricant from the relaxed throat. Djinn let the girl drop onto the dusty ground, and stood up himself, dusting his hands off and looking in the direction Havana had come from, knowing her friends were following behind and were probably panicking now that their friend’s communication device had been permanently deactivated.

“They’ll be coming, and they’ll be coming with all they’ve got.”

Zura informed sternly, standing beside her new leader.

“Then we will give them a welcoming surprise for their charming efforts.”