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Chapter Text

With the help of the Twin Dragons Dark Cacao was able to sit through the rest of his son's breakdown.

His son had stopped punching the ground repeatedly and was now just staring at the ground ,breathing heavily as he thought of any desolate places he could run to. Dark Cacao's body was tense as he was about to jump forward at any moment.

"The wilderness? No. The neighbouring forests? No. For a place to be desolate it has to be difficult to survive in."

Dark Choco breathing slowed down to a steady pace and his grip around the rock loosened. His hand was bleeding yet his son didn't notice it. That was worrying, how obscured could his mental and physical health be if he couldn't feel when his body hurt? Or perhaps he could feel it and was ignoring it? Or maybe he has an absurdly high pain tolerance? So many possibilities, yet none made him worry any less.

"Beast Yeast?"

Dark Cacao's heart leapt into his throat and he tried jumping up to his feet but was stopped when White Dragon carefully pushed him down again. His son may be strong but he doubted he would survive in Beast Yeast.

"Definitely not. I want to avoid hurting people, not die."

Dark Cacao sighed in relief.

Thats good, hes not actively looking to die, but that doesn't mean he's alright.

"First Reasonable Thing You've Said All Day."

Dark Cacao tsked in annoyance, his son's methods were....extreme but they were effective and needed as well as clearly successful, if they weren't then he'd probably have his son back already. Not that Dark Cacao was wishing his son failed in any of his endeavours, he just missed him a great deal.

Dark Choco breathed in through his clenched teeth and shifted his position from on his knees to sitting on his back side leaning on the stone wall behind him. His son put his head on his knees , hiding his face from Dark Cacao's view as he let go of the stone and gripped his head, getting jam in his hair. He didnt seem bothered by it, though it could be possible he didn't notice.

Dark Choco sighed and looked up at the tunnels cieling a minute later his appearance an absolute mess, his face glistened with tears and jam smeared on his face from the unintentional attack illuminated by the dim red lighting of his eye.

He looked so tired, of everything. Dark Cacao wanted nothing more then to cover him with his cape and hide him from the cruel world.

His son flexed his hand , finally noticing its condition. He held in in front of his face opening and closing it, in this red lighting his jam looked like his hand was bleeding a black substance akin to the liquorice sea.

"I must have hit the ground too harshly. "

Dark Choco didn't seem too distressed about it he looked numb almost bored of the sight as if it being hurt wasnt anything new to him. Although it could also be because of the adrenaline and shock was wearing off. Dark Cacao secretly hoped it was the latter, the former would mean he was used to it which only made the already gloomy kings disposition worse.

His son wiped off the jam, dust and grit off onto his ratty jeogori , unbothered by the sight. Then he inspected the hand probably checking to see if any of the dirt got into the cut.

His son's expression changed from one of thoughtful numbness to alertness.

Dark Choco had an idea.

Perhaps now Dark Cacao would know where he was going!

"The s--ce deserts!"

Of course the projection wobbled at the worst possible moment and distorted what his son was saying. Of course it wouldn't be this easy. He should have expected this. It never was . Dark Cacao looked toward the court mages , the 3 of whom were struggling to keep the spell in place. They were regular cookies after all. They weren't as strong as Dark Cacao they didnt have a soul jam giving them strength. They were only as strong as thier dough and soulstone allowed. Limited by thier bodys yet allways pushing themselves further. Resilient as allways.

Well then he must lend them his strength.

With a strong swing of his sword he sent out a wave of power from himself to invigorate them. Of course his attempts weren't perfect -far from it in fact his magic was harsh and methodical like himself. He is a warrior not a mage them nor a healer like Pure Vanilla cookie, his attempts were unpractised at best for he hadn't much experience with magical support. But he was a king, and kings give what they must to help thier subjects. A kingdom is only as strong as those within it.

Dark Cacao steeled himself and concentrated. The grapejam chocoblade glowed a vibrant violet as the King's resolution increased, it flowed and fell apart only to join together again like the liquorice sea as it was expelled from the soul jams lights of violet waves merged with the spell. It was absorbed into the magic of the three mages, entwining with the copper,green and blue losing its color but strengthening theirs. Gateau , White Chocolate and Rice Cookie rose to thier feet , eyes glowing with thier signatures color surrounded with the waves of violet as it seeped into them.

There. That should help them continue the spell.

The 3 mages now imbued with the temporary strength wove the spell back into place quicker and more effectively then before.

Dark Cacao slumped onto White Dragon's form tired but unwilling to stop. Resolute as allways or perhaps just exeedingly stubborn ,a clear case of the Son having traits in conmon with his Father.

Master! Are you sure you can continue? That took a lot from you , and you havent had a sufficient amount of sleep before this!

I am fine , i can handle this. Im not a child.

But-

I said i am fine!

.... As you wish Master
....As you wish Master

The Twin Dragons looked at each other, silently agreeing to trap him in another coil should things go wrong. It wasnt too long before the scene continued where it left off.

Dark Choco was still on the ground but now his face conveyed somthing new,a desperate hope. It gave him a more joyful glint in his eye and a slight whisp of a smile .

"Its perfect! Desolate, far and nobody would know of me nor think to find me there!"

The Twin Dragon's looked at each other bemused.

Well he's wrong on that account.

Indeed he is brother.

We just need to get access to the desert and then ask around a bit to find him. Isnt that correct Master?

Not quite Black Dragon. The desert is divided into many regions and even then we'd need the assistance of the locals to get any where... Hm, the best course of action should be to call a meeting among the Ancients and strengthen our bonds before getting into work immediately.

Black Dragon nudged his face again, distracting the king before he could start over planning again. The old king sighed , slightly annoyed.

Yes Black Dragon?

Perhaps you could leave the planning until after we get back to the castle and get a proper nights rest?

....very well then. I will plan later.

The 3 of them looked back at the projection and the apparition of his boy continued 'speaking'.

"Dont Be So Stupid, How Would You Even Survive There?"

If he was to start over he'd need money, and to get that, a job. But what job could he get? Possibly somthing rogues can easily apply for , but what kind of rogue classifications are in the deserts? Ill have to do a lot of reasearch but its a start.

"I could get a job as a m--m---nger, the death rates are high over there so people wont ask any questions. "

These damned glitches aren't helpful , but it could be worse. I at least know its a high paying job with a high death rate. I dont like those odds. With that description its definitely somthing morally ambiguous at best.

"What If You Die There?"

Dark Cacao's jam went cold at that question. If his son died he'd be lost forever. He'd never come home. He'd never see him again . He'd be gone forever. He cant let that happen. He wont let that happen. It Doesnt matter what it costs ,He Will Bring His Son Back Regardless Of The Cost. Nothing Will Stand In His Way

White Dragon carefully leaned thier form onto the now panicking king and Black Dragon started purring again as well , effectively distracting him from spiralling.

Master, breath. We have some information that will help narrow the search. We cannot do that if The Ghoul takes control.

Dark Cacao breathed in as asked and concentrated on the projection, pushing away his paternal instinct for the time being.

Thank you. Twin Dragons, i needed that.

Think nothing of it Master, we are happy to be of help.

"Then you die with me."

"I Wont"

The Swords words were quiet , steady yet they wavered ever so slightly. As if it was unsure. Hm , how curious. A potential weakness perhaps? Dark Cacao certainly hoped that was the case.

"Really? You seemed so very set on convincing me you're a part of me, what changed? Finally got to the conclusion your nothing but a passenger in my body? "

The red fog spasmed and sharpened for a couple of seconds before returning to its previous state. His son got no reply and he seemed content with that. The silence was gratefully welcomed more then The Curse's horrible voices.

"Ill have to get in and through Hollyberry kingdom unseen to Berry Beach and then aquire a boat and sail there, and get a map at some point. Buying or stealing doesnt matter, ill get one somehow."

Good, now i know his route i can send for allies to intercept him! Though knowing his exact destination would be more helpful. I'll take what i can get.

I should get rewards for the mages, no doubt this is a taxing matter for them assist in.

"I should leave, staying here after almost killing a cookie is a bad idea"

"Good idea"

His son rolled his eyes at the Swords reply and moved to stand when he noticed somthing. Dark Choco paused and brought the burlap sack closer to him to investigate. Dark Cacao stepped nearer so he could look over his sons shoulder, there looked to be somthing else in his bag. That guard must have slipped somthing in when his son was busy with thier wound.. he should keep an eye on them.

"How-?! when?!..."

His son's head shot up and look towards the direction Humbug and Coco powder left, reaching the same conclusion as himself.

"Huh, so they are fit to be Cacaoian Warrior. Well played."

Dark Choco had an approving smile on his face, it warmed his heart to see it.

His son's smile lines had faded over time but perhaps he'd regain them at some point. He had only left the CoD not too long ago.

Dark Choco got up and stretched for a moment before resuming his running.

------ around half an hour later-----

It wasnt too long before he reached the gates. Dark Choco's speed had slowed down from the speed of a sugar bear high off glowshrooms to that of an average cookie. Which showed that even when running on fumes his son exceeded expectations , which has the potential to be both a good and bad thing.

Dark Choco's running had less enthusiasm, he looked like he was forcing himself to continue. His visage conveyed an expression of exhaustion yet he pushed through it. His boy looked so small it hurt. His body angled forward at an odd angle, if he was to trip it was unlikely he would get back up immediately.

The gates towered over them , the pointed upwards towards the cieling of the cavern . The conditions of the gates were ...questionable at best. The black metal was covered in orange rusts and patterened with webs spun from the local ice arachnids. Dark Cacao frowned he should get to fixing that old thing.

"Thats another thing Father should look into. If they need to evacuate then it would be delayed simply due to the rust.

"As Well As Leave Them To Be Slaughtered Should They Be Too Slow"

Dark Cacao rolled his eyes, annoyed. An immature action for the old king to make but its not as if anyone other then his dragons would see it.

Dark Choco stepped closer to the decrepit lock and blew off the dust. Reaching into his cloak pocket he brought out the key , hands shaking a little as he inserted it into the lock. It took his son a little bit of pushing and pulling to turn the key to finally unlock it with a chlik .

His son then grabbed the rusting gate with both his hands-the rust might end up causing the wound to be infected, Dark Choco should be more careful- and pulled.

CCCCRRRREEEEEEEAAAAAAAKKK

Dark Cacao winced at the noise, he should see to it the gate is better maintained. His son had managed to heave the rusted gates open enough for him to squeeze through, it would usually take three cookies to do that.

The scenery changed again as his son got higher and higher towards the surface, each step taking energy he clearly didn't have. His journey, lack of rest and food was catching up to him. His breath fogged up as he exhaled.

"It must be nightfall "

"Yes ,Your Little Escapade With The Guard Cost Us Valuable Time. Just As I Told You It Would. "

His son once again ignored it and kept going. Dark Choco reached the end of the tunnel and the night looked grim. No stars tgat night, only clouds blocking the moonlight encasing everything in shades of black. His son's glowing eye lit a few metres ahead of him making the scene look like it was out of a horror story.

His son stood there for a few moments, leaning on the wall breathing in and out.

"On one hand if I continued walking I'd be able to reach the edges of the kingdom by sunrise and I won't have to worry about being caught, on the other hand i am Exhausted, all this running has taken most of my energy "

By the Witches, Boy take a break! You may be a warrior but you're still mortal!

Dark Cacao was exasperated with his own childs lack of self care, the training methods Dark Cacao's own father passed down to him has come back to bite him .

Hm, brother? Does this situation remind you of a certain cookie?

Hehe, indeed it does brother.

You are aware i can hear the both of you correct?

Yes Master, we are very aware.

Indeed, it seems your kin has more in common with you then initially thought.

The Twin Dragon's emotions were jovial and lightly teasing so Dark Cacao dismissed it, albeit in a slightly aggravated way, as they weren't being malicious. He did have a problem with pushing himself took much so thier banter was fair. He sees his son has inherited that trait. That is not a good thing in this case.

"You Should Get Some Rest.

All of them were surprised It said that. Though it highly was doubtful It was doing anything for Dark Choco's betterment.

"Why would you care?"

His son's voice laced with-warrented - distrust. That accursed Blade never wanted anything for good reasons.

"I Dont. I Cannot Get Souls If My Cookie Is Weak. "

Dark Cacao's mind started to bring up a possibility he hoped wasnt true, if that thing ate souls then ...was it possible his son..? No! He mustn't think like that. There will be a solution Dark Cacao was sure of it! Modern magic had come along way since the times of old, there has to be somthing on the subject of soul eating curses! He also didnt like the way it spoke of his son, as he was naught but a mere vessel for its inconceivable horrors. Perhaps thats why it was still tormenting his boy, it was all too likely what it was planning. Dark Cacao did remember why this projection was cast in the first place after all.

"I am not your cookie or anything".

Dark Choco's voice full of venom and loathing, the notion of being useful to It's whims once more being somthing he hated to his very core.

"What's You Think Is Irrelevant, You Need To Sleep Or Else. "

It seemed almost bored with his son's arguments. Which, Dark Cacao would concede , It was right for once. His son did need sleep desperately so. All of this definitely wasnt good for him. That didnt mean Dark Cacao agreed with anything else It did, It was still on his list of enemies to smite.

"Or else what?"

Dark Choco's tone was obviously goading. Which was a bad idea to say the least, the exhaustion must be impairing his thinking, why else would he provoke somthing that clearly has power over him?! Has he no sense of self preservation?!

"I Will Possess You And Force You To Kill A Village If You Dont Sleep. My Energy Is Being Wasted On Keeping You Upright."

Hm, well that answers some questions but not all. Dark Cacao doubted anything good was going to come from this.

"Good, you'll have less energy to hurt people. "

"Don't Test Me Boy, I Will Deliver On My Threats."

And just like that ,Dark Cacao's suspicion was confirmed, his son's legs began to buckle beneath his weight and his eye glazed over. The surroundings began to blur again and the mist changed from red to a darker crimson shade , much like jam. The trees blurred and the wind sounded far away like it was when Dark Choco slipped through the gates. The noises of animals became lower in pitch and so much slower. What little color there was bleeding away leaving nothing but shades of black ,white and red.

This was bad.

Very very bad.

Dark Cacao leapt to his feet and this time the Twin Dragons did not stop him. They were frozen in place. They knew this magic. They could feel it in thier bones. A distant memory was triggered, but not fully recalled.

Dark Cacao rushed forward to try and catch his son but ended up running into a tree trunk, ending up with a splinters in his forehead and knuckles. Dark Cacao fell on his back and let out a short but frustrated yell as he got to his feet and turned back to the scene, clenching his fist.

The Twin Dragons were snapped out of thier thoughts when they heard the yell and quickly came to his side. Frantically trying to soothe him.

Master, calm down!

"Do not tell me to calm down, my son is being taken over by a Malicious entity!!"

That may be true Master but do you think allowing the Ghoul to take over now would be a wise idea?

Dark Cacao stopped himelf from retorting with somthing he'd regret later. They were right. He had to keep a level head or a rampage would be imminent. He hit the ground below him to release some of the aggression, he could make a quick trip to the abandoned sugar mine later.

Whack!

Dark Cacao felt the brittle ice splinter more beneath his fist. The dragons had remained where they were.
He unhappily got to his feet and made his way back to them and leant against White Dragon's side not bothering to take out the splinters.

White Dragon sensing his emotions made sure to partially coil themselves around the angered king just in case. Nothing good was going to come of this.

"Wait....stop that! I-i can't let you-!"

"Silence, You Foolish Boy, You Are Useless To Me In This State. Sleep, You Will Be Unable To Cause Any Harm In Your Current State."

"Liar..you.."

Dark Choco's body slid down the wall like a puppet that its strings cut one by one. It hurt Dark Cacao to witness it hadnt he been through enough?! Why must the fates torment him so much?! Hes just a boy! He doesnt deserve this!

Dark Choco's body landed on the snow with a flump.

"..Its...Soft"

His son's voice was small, distance like he was miles away from his body and had a dissociative echo to it. His gaze looked similar to those in the infirmary on pain reducers.

Dark Cacao's breath caught in his throat, he knew what was coming. The Snow Prowler massacre. But that didnt mean he was prepared for it, not at all, nobody was prepared for what they were about to see.

Dark Choco was quiet, the only noise was his slow steady breathing it was like he was about to sleep. Which he was, likely due the Curse's machinations more then his body finally giving up.

"That's Better, Less Of Your Incessant Whining. "

It crooned sounding so smug and condescending. Dark Cacao Hated that Curse. He genuinely hated it more then any enemy he has faced before, possibly more then the Beast of Apathy. Dark Cacao will take joy from It's pain,.

"Wait...I have to-"

Dark Choco was still trying to resist, he knew something was still wrong even if he didnt know why. Still as intuitive as ever he sees.

"Sleep, There Is Nothing Else To Be Done As Of Yet. "

It sounded happier now that his son wasnt talking back. Like it had finally broke him. ..But it didn't, Dark Cacao knew the power of resolution flowed in his son like it did with himself. Dark Choco was still awake. Still fighting. His eye still open, stubbornly staring at the snow .

"How Irritating. Listen, Boy. I Said SLEEP "

A brief sound that sounded a lot like a weak protest ruptures the air ,son's eye briefly flashed red once more before sliding shut and falling asleep.

He looked so peaceful ,sleeping on the snow like that. His breathing calm and relaxed, one could fool themselves into thinking it was alright, he was just sleeping and he'd wake up and everything would be all snowdrops and sunshine.

But they knew better then that.

It wasnt even 10 minuites before Dark Choco's other eye, his scarred shut eye, opened with a disgusting SSSQUURIISH the flesh binding the dough together ripped itself apart to reveal a carmine void and a slit of black within that sucked in the light around it in the socket where an eye was meant to be, a pinch of black in a chasm of a glowing carmine.

Dark Cacao sucked in a breath through his teeth and took a step back from horror.

What in the name of the witches?!

Dark Choco's sleeping face contorted into one of sadistic excitement. Whatever was going on , they knew wasnt anything good.

"Heh..hehe. ahhehehahaHahahHaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"

Dark Choco's body haphazardly stood up, using his arms to dig into the wall and pull his body upwards until he stood upright. One hand dug into the wall his head looking down a maniacal laugh ripping out of his son's chest and echoing throughout the cavern and forest.

What has that thing done to my son?! 

It is very possible the Entity has forced your kin's mind into slumber while it takes control to...do what the projection was made to show us.

If the Twin Dragons were correct then that means Dark Cacao's worst fears were about to be confirmed. 

The Strawberry Jam Sword still had a hold on his son, despite the physical sword being at the CoD base, and it is still able to use his son as a puppet for its whims. This night just kept on getting worse by the hour as well raise more questions then answers.  

Dark Choco's head was thrown back and lolled to the side as his head looked up towards the sky outside the cavern, an unhinged grin plastered on his face with black ooze dripping from the scarred socket. 

"Finally! I Have Control Over My Vessel! " It dragged his son's hand down his face.

He is Not your vessel, parasite! I will purge from his dough!

Looking up at the treeline it grinned and spoke again

"Ugh, Its Been Such A Long Time! This One Is Much More ...Stubborn? Annoying? Resilient? All Three? He's Much Too Uncooperative. ..How Amusing,All It Took Was The Mere Mention Of His Father To Trigger Him To Generate All That Fear? He Couldnt Even Fight Back,  He Was So Tired! Ha! I Should Really Thank The Old Fool, If It Weren't For Him I Wouldn't Have Gained Such A Powerful Vessel In The First Place! "

Dark Choco's loose form then shot up straight as if it was pulled by invisible strings, movements jerky and uncoordinated stumbling around as he was inebriated. The unhinged grin shifted into surprise as his son's body fell back onto the snow face looking at the wall through Dark Cacao and his Twin Dragon. 

plap!

It would have been funny if were not for what happened next. The scarred eyes light began to dim as the black pupil dilated into surprise, then that surprise shifted into frustration and then nonchalance. "Very Well Then, I See I Must Force You To Comply Once Again. Even When Unconscious Boy You Vex Me So."

The red mist that had previously funneled into his boy began to pour out of his scarred socket and began to condense and darken its color until its viscosity mirrored that of the liquorice sea. The horrid liquid-like magic reminded Dark Cacao of an infected wound that grew rotten with time . The gloopy blackish-red magic flowed over his son's body with a purpose, like another limb and began seeping into every open cut thst was visible and then burrowing under the skin.As it entered Dark Choco's wounds they began to glow and leave root like viens on the skin. Soon every visible skin was covered in inky blackish-red tendrils.Once It was done pouring into the wounds, they sealed shut subtlety glowing and pulsating like the empty socket was.

.

Dark Cacao swallowed his nausea and looked at his son scanning for any changes when Dark Choco's limbs suddenly cracked and spasmed as they snapped in the opposite direction of the joints! The root like viens pulsated with each movement, digging further and further into his son's dough, almost as if they were for controlling the body better or draining what little nutrition he had. Dark Choco, no -The Curse- got up and took a leisurely stretch and held out the injured hand in front of the socket. The abyss scrutinised the hand , and as if willing it, the roots doubled on that particular limb like a particularly morbid bandage and the bleeding slowed to a trickle. It looked out towards the black sky and sighed.

"Its Been Too Long, Much Too Long,Since ive Had Control.My Control May Have Waned Over Time And Distance, But That Is Of No Matter. I Can Easily Empower Myself With This Body, Even With The Subpar Conditions. ..The Vessel Would Be So Much Stronger if He Would Consume The Flesh As I Consume The Souls.It Is Unfortunate His Insubordination Leads To Such Weakness, He Knows Better Then To Disobey Me And Yet He Does It Anyway , Such A Foolish Child. Hm, The Vessel Hungers. I Can Cease That Function mMyself , After All It Has Been Eons Since i Have Had The Chance To Dine On Cookie Dough. "

Dark Cacao pulled a hand over his mouth gagging as he held back his dinner that was threatening to come up. His son was covered in blackish-red pulsating tendrils that originated from the empty eye socket.

The horrible thought he had tried to banish earlier resurfaced at the forefront of his mind , and this time he was unable to push it back down in time.

I-it said it ate souls!
Souls!

Yes, it does Master.

Souls aren't a tangible thing! They are held within the stone that solidifies when the heart stops beating! And if it is shattered the soul fades immediately! How is it consumed?! Wait... if that thing eats the souls then is my son already done for?!

Master, what are y-?

You both heard it as well, i know you did! How am i to separate the two of them if doing that very thing could be what kills him?! I had assumed Dark Choco's soul was the only source of it's power, now i see it used the souls it has harmed! That-! I have to calm down, dont let it out not yet, it at least partially explains how it still has a hold on him.

How could a Curse consume a soul? How could it possess a cookie in this way?! The priests said it had a passive hypnotic ability not full possession! What were those root like formations covering his son's body?! Do they have any other physical effects? Is his son's changes attributed or a result of that? It mentioned it ate cookie dough, is that another form of fuel for it?! He thought it only fed on the wielder's negative emotions, unless the cookie dough consumption is a more recent development. Would that mean his son has been forced to become an unwitting cannibal?! Perhaps that's why he is so thin! He wont allow himself the nutrients for the Curse to do that again! Its also a possibility his son has seemed to seemed to develop a martyr complex as well. But was separation even possible? No,it had to be, there has to be a way! It doesn't matter how he does it, Dark Choco Will save his son, no matter the cost. He will save his son. He will He will. He will. He will. He will.He will.

Dark Cacao's eyes were glowing again and his hair was slowly beginning to turn into smoke at the ends, he was spiralling again. Black Dragon noticed the Curse was about to do somthing and Dark Cacao had begun spiralling again so Black Dragon looked at White Dragon and nodded at his brother before he did the only thing he could do to quickly snap Dark Cacao out of it, he slithered off the shoulder onto the arm towards the hands and bit the wrist.

"AAGHH!"

Dark Cacao suddenly felt two sharp teeth dig into his wrist, the pain simultaneously distracted him and shocked him enough to throw out that arm , dislodging the small passenger aboard it .Which resulted in Black Dragon being thrown off ,naturally Black Dragon used the momentum to help him fly making an aerial loop upwards before settling down on his larger Brother's scaled head.

Dark Cacao rolled up his sleeve to check his arm to find two tiny pinprick of blood leaking from the bite. He looked at Black Dragon with a mixture of indignation shock.

"Black Dragon, why did you bite me?!

"My sincere apologies Master, it was the first thing i thought of to distract you from spiralling again."

"I was not spiralling!"

"You were Master, look at the ends of your hair. It is turning more mist like."

White Dragon interrupted.Now that they mentioned it , Dark Cacao's weight from his hair felt off so he reached behind him and grabbed a lock of hair and brought the ends to eye level to check.
They were right, the ends of his hair had began to evaporate into mist. He pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed , his dragons were only trying to keep him stable. He shouldn't snap at them for that. They were trying thier best. They didnt know to help with his emotions ,and they shoulnt have to just because he couldn't keep himself in line. He breathed until his jam cooled and the familiar weight of hair returned, he had to open his eyes keep watching the projection after all. That was why he was standing in the forest at witches knows what time of the night. He sighed heavily and pulled down his sleeve before turning to Black Dragon, whom was still in thier miniscule form perched atop his brothers head. Dark Cacao raised his hand for Black Dragon to fly back onto and after a minute of hesitation he did.

"....I apologise Black Dragon for throwing you off of my arm. I shouldn't have done that."

"Apology accepted Master. It is an understandable reaction to a bite"

Dark Cacao smiled as Black Dragon settled back onto his shoulder. Turning to his right he looked at White Dragon "You also have permission to do what needs to be done to keep the Ghoul from re-emerging, is that understood? "

"Yes Master, I understand "

"Good, let us return to watching the projection. I believe we are about to witness the extent of the Strawberry Jam Sword's capabilities."

The possessed prince looked out towards the forest and stretched his son's face into an unhinged smile that showed off the sharp teeth in all its glory.

"The Boy Is Asleep He Wont Notice If i Use His Body To Go Hunt. Im Sure i Could Just Go And Eat Those Two Cookies In The Tunnels, Its Doubtful They Managed Make It Back By Now. The Other One Was Obviously The Slow One. It'll Be Done Quickly , Not To Mention The Injured Cookie Has Such Nutrient Rich Jam. Such a Cookie Would Replenish The Vessel's Strength Tremendously!"

The Curse paused for a couple of moment's, apparently coming to a realisations it didnt like.

The mages said it would show is things from the killer's point of view, why can we not hear it's thoughts as well? we could hear it when it spoke to choco so why not now?

Master it could be that way because the Curse isnt a cookie.

True, Very insightful of you Black Dragon

Thank you Master

"Tch! Then Again I Am Sure The Absorption Of Thier Souls Will Wake Him Up, Cookies Souls Have A Tendency To Scream. I Shall Have To Improvise Then. That Shouldn't Be Too Much Of A Problem, These Lands Are Filled With Harsh Predators, Cookie And Animals Alike. It Is No Matter, They Will Be Of Use In Some Way"

Dark Cacao gripped the hilt of his sword tighter, The Curse simultaneously disgusted and horrified him. His priests hadnt found any evidence that showed the Accursed Blade had this much sentience, although the evidence presented to him could have been tampered with. Witches knows how many backstabbers were amidst his court. He had done a good job of weeding out mist of them yet Dark Cacao knew there would allways be at leadt one snake around him.

Dark Cacao took a step back from the projection to better prepare himself. He knew what was coming next. The Snow Prowler Massacre. He had to remind himself this wasnt the work of his beloved son, it was doings of the malicious entity overtaking his child.

If he failed to keep himself in line he trusted his Twin Dragon's would intervene and keep him from causing any harm until the projection was completed.

The Prince's puppeted form untied the strip of cloth that tethered the sack to his back opened it , placing it on the ground for a moment before it untied the sash keeping the jeogori in place and slipping it off- along with a short chainmail shirt he wore under it- and stuffing it and the cloak into the sack. Under the now discarded jeogori and chainmail was a compression shirt. It looked a little baggy and Dark Cacao once again saw how thin his son was. The last time he saw Dark Choco he was clad in a featurless suit of black armour adorned with a simple black cape and two semi circle oreo paldrons. He was much broader then he still retained his height but not his strength by the looks of it. He hadn't been taking very good care of himself in the wilderness, though perhaps his weight loss could be contributed to his vigilante efforts during the pale ailment? Possibly so.

The Curse tied the sack back on and then carefully stalked towards the forest ,on the hunt .

It was dark , with only the light from the eyes and the root like structures adorning his skin lighting the way . The wind howled and the snow was carried by its current .In this setting Dark Cacao was able to see many more scars decorating his son's dough. Some were round and blunt ,others jagged and uneven ,some more were surgically straight and looked to be purposeful. The last worried him more, the earlier flashback in the projection he was able to see the other cookies in the CoD, his son's perspective of them wasn't comforting in the slightest. It made the king wonder how his son managed to survive that long within the cult and if his son had been an unwilling victim in one of thier experiments?

The surroundings looked less like the forests Dark Cacao had grown up in and more like a bizarre and disturbing work of art. The trees were outlined with white and had the finer details of the bark in an off white. The sky was black and the snow was varying shades of grey. The little glowshrooms were glowing a vibrant wine red , like his son's normal eye. In the dark Dark Choco's body was a grey silouette with blackish-red roots decorating the body, easily blending into the spaces between the trees. But in the center was a glowing soulstone. It's colouring was different to most soulstones. Unlike the usual soulstone it didnt have a single colour relating to the cookie, no it was a blend of candy rose red ,a soft dreamy lilac and a spasming bolt of black. Dark Cacao made a mental note to research soulstones as well. The soft colors contrasted the environment around them.

It was silent, unnerving as if the land itself was holding its breath, waiting for somthing to happen.

The Curse continued walking for an hour or so silently with the eye wide scanning for any prey to come its way when it suddenly stoped and turned his son's head 180° to look behind him with a sickening CRACK!

Dark Cacao flinched back in shock What in the Witches names?! His son's face shifted from an expression of bordom to one of absolute malice. His mouth stretching beyond what was normal into a horrifying grin showcasing all his sharp teeth. It looked like a mouth of a sugarbear trap with knives instead of the usual sharpened metal. "Ah, How Fortunate. A Pack Of Felines To Satiate My Appetite".

Dark Cacao braced himself. He had seen the results of this night earlier , now he was to bear witness to such savagery. He was now to bear witness to the brutality that Curse could Inflict as it happened.

Remember. None of this is Dark Choco's doing. He is also a victim in this.

Dark Choco's body twisted around to follow the head's direction with another nauseating CRACK until it back to looking somwhat normal. The Curse adjusted the body to a better position for tracking , looking at the snow for any indication for It's prey. The snow should had covered up any tracks and the wind had scattered any scents but it the Curse's vision saw things differently. The snow was varying shades of grey with the red prints of animals that been there at some point. The animal prints looked like they were fleeing somthing , so whatever they were fleeing from must be a predator of some kind or they just got the instinct to run. It still looked like it knew where they were, as if being able to sense thier fear as if it had a visible trail for it to follow. That wasnt entirely out of the realm of possibility when thought about, who knows what that Thing is capable of. The the forest was completely silent. Which only happened when a large danger was nearby-the only difference being the predator was a Malicious entity possessing the unconscious body of a cookie. The glowing cookie set off in search of the snow prowlers Dark Cacao had seen earlier.

As he,no, it, it began to talk to itself or maybe to Dark Choco's sleeping mind. Probably as a way to amuse itself as it hunted the Prowlers.

"Animal, Ancient, Beasts, Virtues They're All The Same Deep Down. They All Pretend They Are Above Others Yet At Thier Core's They Are No Different From Thier Other Halfs"

Dark Cacao bristled at that. That Blasted thing knew not of what it spoke. The differences were easily seen between the two of them when looked for.

"After All What Is The Difference Between Yourself And That Little Cloud Haetae? "

What was it talking about? Cloud Haetae had been crumbled by Mystic Flour before his final battle with her, and Dark Choco is still alive. How would it know that happened? Dark Choco wasnt there. Did his son hear some of the village's gossiping at some point?

It may be referring to the time you vowed Dark Choco would fall, even it would be by your hand.

Dark Cacao looked at the ground as the memories of that fateful night came back. He was filled with such rage and ego he had briefly succumbed to Apathy, if it were not for Caramel Arrow cookie and the trio of brave cookies it was unlikely the night would have ended the way it did. Dark Cacao was fully intent on ensuring the downfall of his son by any means necessary. He hated himself for even wishing a fate like that upon his son.

Black Dragon poked him with his sharp tail, taking care not spill anymore jam.

Master?

...Yes , Black Dragon?

You are aware you and the beast arent anything alike , yes?

....

Dark Cacao didnt answer. So Black Dragon carefully continued talking.

The beast cared for nought and killed even her young ward.

And i attempted to do the same.

But you didn't. You stopped and apologised for your misgivings and as a result your son abandoned the darkness. You are willing to admit your wrong doing and change for the better. She was not.

An apology doesnt change any of the harm i caused before.

That is true, but its a start. Which is more then the beast. You are trying and that is the best you can do for now.

Dark Cacao loosened his grip on his sword ever so slightly and some of the self hate in his eyes lessened. He smiled ever so slightly.

When did you both become so wise?

We have been sealed within your blade for eons Master, did ypu not think we wouldnt learn anything?

...I will concede ,you have a point.

That is all i ask Master.

They turned back to the projection.

" And Just Like Them You Broke The Bonds That You Made, Leaving All Those In Your Wake Betrayed, Confused So Full Of Despair And Questions. All Those Friends , Families ,You Are No Different Boy. After All Your Father Trained You To Ensure You Were Made Strong Enough To Win ,To Fight To Kill. Just Like Them. So Why Must You Insist On Holding Back? They Think You're A Monster, Prove Them Right.

"I didnt want to ,im so sorry "
" You Know We Are The Same, There Is No Price You Wont Pay To Succeed, No Price Is Too High When It Comes To Power. The Reason You Decided To Find Me In The First Place, That Is Why Your Father Didnt See You , Because You Were Weak On His Eyes. I Have Made You Stronger Then Before, So Hed Have To Listen But No Just Like You He Is Such An Obtuse Cookie. It Is Such A Shame You Insist On Staying Out Of The Darkness, You Are Welcome There. You Have A Place There, Unlike The Precious Heros You Look Up To. Your Vigilante Efforts Are A Waste Of Time , The Suffering You Caused Will Not Cease Simply Because You Decided To Be So Naive And Try To Claw Yourself Out Of It. I Wont Let That Happen, You Know This, So Stop Pretending You're Any Better Then Any Of The Others. "
If Dark Cacao's blade was like any other sword then he would have surely shattered it from how tight he was grasping it. Luckily for him the grapejam chocoblade wasn't as brittle as those blades. Staying calm was difficult whilst listening to the Swords words they weren't wrong when speaking of his previous shortcomings but by the Ovens he was going to keep himself in line until the projection was finished. ;"please Forgive me""

. Dark Cacao's eyes widened in surprise, he definitely could hear his son's voice, not just his mind playing a trick on him. He thought it was his imagination at first but it really was his sons voice. It was small , overshadowed by echoing voices of the Curse but it was still there, so remorseful and still as young as Dark Cacao remembered it to be before this never-ending mess of events.

" Ah You Are Still Cognitive On Some Level. Hush Boy, How Cruel Of Him To Place Such A Burden On Your Shoulders At Such A Tender Age , There Is No Need To Worry For I Am In Control. Here, Let Me Help You, Everything Is Fine. Go Back To SLEEP. "

The lilac and rose light flickered brighter for a moment before they dimmed and the black ensnared it. Locking it deep down and smothering the vibrant colors in darkness.

Dark Choco's body looked up and following it's gaze dark Cacao saw 8 snow prowlers in the dark. Eyes bright as torches in the darkness.

The Curse's grin grew bigger , if that was possible, and the surroundings changed again. The colors slowly came back but they were off and the details came back wierd as well.

The Curse used the various trees around it as cover as it closed in on them. Scampering around the felines to get thier attention, purposely stepping on broken branches to do so.

SNAP!

It was working. The leader stopped walking and turned its head towards the noises.sniffing the air, Its neck stretched out and its hackles raised as it approached the source of tge noises. Its large stature was as wide as a tree, its limbs were as tall as four cookies ,sharp and angled perfectly for pouncing. It flicked its tail , signalling to the other packmates to surround the noises

The rest of the Prowlers understood , allways ready for the hunt. They began to split up trying to close off the prey by circling around it and boxing ot until it was surrounded but little did they know, none of them were going to get a meal tonight let alone make it back to thier caves.

Dark Choco's glowing form continued the little game of cat and mouse for a while to get the pack fully invested. Only swiping at thier fur to annoy them some more,scratching at the treebark so they could hear It but never let them make any contact with him at all. Which was clearly was working ,the Prowlers eyes were dilated, focused on the elusive prey. Fully invested in this little game.

Dark Cacao leaned into White Dragon's coil, anxious but strategically noting down every move it made. Knowing it's tactics would make apprehending the boy easier should it try anything when he found him.

The Curse continued taunting them with it's little game , allowing the prowlers to think they could predict what moves it was going to make. Allowing them to get closer and closer. There was One on the left behind the Curse hiding behind a tree was the smallest of the pack, barely out of the cub stage and only as tall as dark Cacao himself , pounced too early.

The snow prowlers signature screech was sounding more like a keen whine than the jam curdling screams like that of its family. The cub's eyes looked just like the gem of the Strawberry Jam Swordbut a little more pink , it looking like something straight out of the magenta flames of Dark Enchantress's ovens .

Time slowed down.

Dark Cacao's breath left his body.

The smallest prowler managed to land a hit on the silhouetted form of the Curse, drawing a small trickle of jam from the open wound on the Prince's hand. Swiping its sharp claws as the cookie just barely got out of the cubs way.

Or was that accursed Blade taunting them further? White Dragon took the time to look closer they were able to see a knowing smirk on the cookie's face.

It was as if the curse had beern waiting for one of them to do that because It suddenly darted imbetween a gap in the pack and ran away from them. Not as fast as Dark Choco's speed from the start of the projection but not as slow as An injured cookie should. No, it was quick but not exeedingly so, just enough for the snow prowlers to feel like they had a chance.

The Curse's footsteps were loud and flashed with red sparked as the boots met the snow, contrasting to Dark Choco's silent footsteps. Taking care to purposely make as much noise as it could without drawing the attention of any cookies that could have been nearby.

The wind had picked up from a harsh breeze to an ear popping blizzard. The snowflakes had increased in their quantity, weaving in out of the trees and wind almost making it look like the snow itself was trying to obscure the sleeping prince , as if trying to warn the soon to be prey to turn back when they could.

Frost queen , bless them with your peaceful silence your snow brings.

Dark Cacao thought to himself.

It was allways those who had no business in dark affairs whom would be struck down by them.Why was it allways the innocent who are subjected to the horrors of life?(Of course Dark Cacao knew the Snow Prowler weren't innocent, they were responsible for killing a few of his soldiers. But they were animals so he couldnt really hold them in the same light as cookies.) Why not those who are better suited for them ? Why is allways the ones who deserve it the least? Why? Its not fair. Then again life never is. Time wont care what you go through, it moves like nothings changed. Continously like they never mattered at all.

His son's glowing form was obviously unbothered by the apex predators coming after it. The red fog began to flow out of the eye socket trailing behind him and getting absorbed into the Snow Prowlers.

The snow prowlers pupils dilated , the fog was doing somthing to them but what?

Is the fog able to manipulate other beings besides its host ? If so, what would be the repercussions of such a thing?

Dark Cacao and his Twin Dragon's watched as Dark Choco- no the Curse- ran through the forest , unphased by the absolute killing mashines following behind.

By this point Dark Cacao had sat down on White Dragon's coils as his body had enough of keeping him upright. The beating heart of the dragon was comforting to the old king and kept him grounded.

But keeping him that calm was going to be difficult because now was the time the Curse had gotten bored of the chase.

Dark Choco's speed increased and it angled itself at just right amount so when the biggest prowler pounced again ,Dark choco-no- the Curse was able to dig his hands into the tree and used the force it had built up to run upwards the tree!

Dark Cacao's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. Dark Choco was asleep and those roots weren't able to do anything like that before so how was it able to now? Perhaps the Curse had finally gotten used to puppeting his son's body? But it hadnt been that long. Perhaps this wasnt the first time it possesed his son in this manner?

Dark Cacao's contemplation was cut short when his son's form used the tree as a base and jumped off of it arching backwards as it flipped from the tree.

The snow prowler ran into the tree , knocking it down with ease. It yelped in surprise as it crashed into the sharp brittle bark ,but that pain would pale in consideration when The Strawberry Jam Curse landed on it's back and began grabbing fist fulls of fur and wrenched it out.

The snow prowler shrieked and tried shaking off the possesed cookie on its back but the blasted Curse held firm not even budging from its place.

The rest of the pack were frozen not knowing what to do . Help thier leader or wait until they had shaken off the pest on its back?The other prowlers looked at each other befuddled at this turn of events, to be fair to them it was a sight to behold , a simple malnourished cookie was able to distract the humongous feline like this was enough to make any cookie laugh at the absurdity of the situation or stun them in confusion.

Dark Cacao breathed in again, willing himself to stay calm and relaxed. It was difficult, as a cookie whom had been to many a battle and survived he had learnt not to get used to happy times. They could allways take a turn for the worst , he had been trying to be optimistic but it was wasnt easy given that all hes gone through.

Then suddenly they heard a sickening SHHKKRRRIIIIIT The snow Prowler's fur wasnt the only thing that was ripped off, now chunks of its flesh accompanied the clumps of fur. It's jam splattering onto the snow below.

They froze.

As did both the remaining prowlers and Dark Cacao and his Twin Dragons.

They watched in horror as the Curse worked clinically and effectively to tear that prowler piece by piece. Patches of fur and dough and jam adorned his son's body like a messed up costume or a horrid mimicry of crunchy chips clothing. His arms were slick with jam and little strands of fur stuck in the gooey substance clung to his arms, his face had a grin that sent a shiver down Dark Cacao's spine it reminded him of Her .

Master are you sure you can continue watvhing this?

Yes, Black Dragon . I am sure. I have seen more then my fair share of murders . I can handle some more. This likely wont be the last time i witness such atrocities.

Are you sure?

Yes, I am White Dragon.

The sight of their leaders spilt jam was enough to spur one of them into action. The second biggest prowler, a female, leapt forward intending to close its maws on the cookies torso.

The Curse looked at it and laughed and laughed some more. As if that act was another thing that amused It besides the agony of the one It was currently hurting ,which wouldnt be out of character for the Curse was truly a deplorable Thing .

The second snow prowler missed.

The Strawberry Jam Curse jumped off of the leaders back as the Prowler threw itself back at the tree, Dark Choco's glowing form was launched up towards the treeline and the two prowlers crashed into each other and were subsequently sent tumbling away. Snapping trees tree underneath them as they went, leaving small puddles of jam in thier wake.

The Curse's followed them, hopping from branch to branch. Tree to tree . The remaining six prowlers followed , intent on hunting down the pest . Which was odd usually when a predator was faced with a prey that could sufficiently fight nack they would abandon it , deeming not worth it. But they weren't.

Why?

It didnt make sense for them.

Hm , it could be because of the red smoke emanating from his son. Perhaps it was able to subtly manipulate others behaviour? That would bring up the question if he himself had been effected by the Curse himself . Dark Cacao dismissed the thought, it wasnt possible. The soul jam would at least nullify its affects, he was sure his actions were his own.

The Curse jumped down from the tree once the prowlers had stopped rolling and had gotten to thier feet. It laughed maliciously as it hopped down from the tree branches, landing right in front of them.

The two prowlers hissed at the cookie in front of them . The red fog was now emanating from them as well but it was different, the red that they got accustomed to seeing was much paler in comparison to the Strawberry Curse's it was more of a neon red then the carmine enthused black the Curse was producing , it was also more transparent ,it looked more like incense . Yet another question to add to his evergrowing list.

"Aww, What Seems To Be The Matter? Has The Little Felines Lost Thier Nerve?"

The Curse tilted his son's head at - what looked to be - painful angle looking at the ferocious predators like the way a child would look at a particularly interesting toy.

Its question was clearly enough to enrage the cats once more , the two of them circled dark choco from a small distance before trying to close in on him again but that was thier mistake. As they dove foreward the carmine chasm of the Curse's eye glowed brighter and the slit grew halving the chasm, making it look like there was more then one eye in that socket. Dark Cacao looked into the chasm and shivered, it felt like there was somthing looking back at him..multiple somethings.

His son's body leapt up at an alarming speed towards the gaping maw of the snow prowler and ripped out one of its teeth and part of its jaw!

Jam splurted from the prowlers mouth bathing his son and her cream coat in a fresh coating of red as she was thrown to the side like a mere toy. Decorating the grey snow with shades of viscous coats of jam.

She yelped and whimpered as she was thrown off its feet and onto the tree a nauseating CRACK was heard as she landed at an wrong angle . The Curse approached it nonchalantly and watched as she struggled to tried and get to herfeet. The second half of her body wasnt moving at all, regardless of how much she tried.

Dragon's brace yourselves. The massacre is to begin.

Dark Cacao thought to them , he didnt move, he didnt weep , he didnt blink. If any cookie was to see him at that moment theyd think he was a statue with how still he was. Dont mistake his silence as him being unbothered. No, on the contrary the old king was struggling to keep his composure. It was thanks to his Twin Dragon's help he was able to watch thus far without breaking but he held firm , resolute to see this to the end. He owed it to his son to witness the atrocities hed been forced to commit while he was unaware , he wouldnt let himself turn away, not again ,never again. he wont let himself fail his son for a third time.

He watched as that accursed entity picked up the discarded tooth attached to the partial jaw that it ripped out and watched as it began to beat the prowler until her bones broke. You'd think it would start wth the legs that were paralysed but no, that would have been much too easy no,It was more sadistic then that . It started with its front legs instead. The Prowler's only working legs, she tried to swipe at It best she could but the curse simply laughed at the effort. Each attempt moved the prowler in a way that aggravated its injury thus hurting her even more.

The poor animal was helpless against the entity in front of her. At some point she ran out of energy, completely exausted from her attempts and unable to move any longer, she could only lie there as The Thing approached . It adjusted its grip on the tooth and jaw before raising the improvised weapon before it was brought down on the defenceless creature in front of it.

CRACK

The screams of the animal joined the howling winds in a horrible symphony composed of agony wrought upon them by means if which they did not understand.

SNAP!

With every CRUNCH more jam was added to the already growing lake below it, painting the should be brown bark of the tree in a glistening red, drowning in its life essence and choking on its tears. Joining the red fog in turning everything from a peaceful white into shades of jam. Acknowledging she wasnt going to survive, the snow prowler looked up and breathed her last breath.

They watched as the soul of the prowler floated out of her body . It glowed white and her fur had taken on a more mist like quality, like she was made of clouds then fur. Her eyes were as bright as rubys and her claws were as pristine as a newly forged blade.

It was beautiful.

But the beauty didnt last.

Almost immediately after the soul was evicted from her body , the Curse knelt down reached into the body. His son's sharp fingertips easily tearing through her dough like bread, and pulling out a glowing cream coloured soulstone. It them crushed the stone in his son's hand and tilted his head upward to pour in the glowing dust down his throat, thus consuming it.The reddish-black smog grew smokey tendrils ensnaring the soul shards in its dark grip . The soul thrashed and tried to scream but it didnt let go. Dark Cacao and his dragons watched as the soul tried to use her claws to hold onto anything to delay the inevitable. But nothing worked. Her claws passed through her surroundings, unable to grasp anything and she was dragged into the the abyss. The glow of her soul drowning in the darkness.

They watched as the bright white soul got darker and darker, smaller and smaller until the light was extinguished entirely.

.

...

....

...

..

.

More footsteps were heard coming towards the gruesome sight. It was the other packmates finally catching up to thier leaders, much too late to help .

Dark Cacao tore his eyes away from the murder scene to look at them.

Despite being right there , the leader did nothing to help his mate. It was odd , the perpetrator was right there with it's back turned to them so why didnt it take advantage of that to ambush him? Snow Prowler's are ambush predators why was it not doing what it was best known for?

Looking at the leader Dark Cacao was clearly able to discern the paralysing fear in its eyes. It knew that there was no winning against this foe but he couldnt make himself leave his partner in her last moments..nor could he force himself to move.

The mist had darkened further from a carmine to a near black. The air crackled and sparked as the whimpers decreased, as the life faded from her eyes , as her years bled out beneath them.

The main conduit of the fog was still his sons body by the looks of it, but now the Prowlers were also emanating it. Though it was a lot less powerful and much less potent then the Curse's fog.

Dark Cacao pushed his rising questions to the back of his mind. They can wait for later.

Master?

Yes, White Dragon?

Am i correct to assume that regular cookies shouldnt be able to rip off jaws and murder predatorsthat easily?

Yes, your assumptions are correct.

Perhaps you could invest in a 'safe room' for your son should he need to be exorcised? Just in case the Curse reacts?

...perhaps i should.

Dark Cacao looked back to see the Curse leap towards the leader before he coukd try to escape and began to beat him to death as well.

This time it broke the Snow Prowler's neck with the ripped off jaw, bringing down luke a club with a quick SNAP! then withb that very same bone it carved open the leader's stomach and began to to snap his ribcage and other bones from the inside until the broken bones pierced his flesh , looking like the worlds the most gruesome pin cushion.

The leader was still conscious during all of this and tried to move but the Curse reached into the wound past the writhing organs that was partially spilt put around them until it reached the spine . Using the claws his son had grown it sliced halfway through the vererbrae like a mad surgeon performing a terrible amputation. Just enough for the Prowler to wriggle around but not enough to save him from his demise.

His cries joined the wind as his mate's and he died like she did. In pain, cold and mutilated.

And just like her, his soustone was ripped from his flesh,shattered and consumed. He was engulfed in the darkness.

The Curse had the gall to smile in satisfaction, clearly drunk on bloodlust. Or was it feeling gluttonous? Either way the carnage wasnt over yet. There was still six prowlers to go.

Unlike thier parents, these ones had the right idea, to run as fast as they could , but that wasnt enough to save them in the end .

The Curse simply laughed again and followed them, easily keeping pace and staying just a little ways behind them .

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

The cacophony of voices reached a fever pitch as the hunt began. Filling the woods with a kind of fear that only those whom encontered death would be familliar with.

Catching up to a snow prowler was no easy feat by any means , the Twin Dragons struggled to keep up with them but they argued that they were just rusty from being imprisoned in his soul jam for a few millennia.

The Curse took a left turn , branching off view for a few seconds.

The third Prowler looked behind them for only a moment to see how far it was behind them , when the cookie they were running from suddenly materialised front of them. Laughing that same echoing, jam curdling laugh.

The pack split off into groups , two going left and the other three going right , leaving the one prowler faced with the Thing that had killed his parents not even an hour before.

The prowler tensed, and for a moment Dark Cacao thought it would tryband copy his mother in trying to leap at the Entity, but it instead tried jumping over his son .

The Curse simply smiled and held out an arm, urging the feline to come closer and fight, the other hidden behind his back preoccupied with holding partial jaw of the first prowler, And just like his father, the snow prowler was cut open. The onslaught of jam practically showered his son in red. The organs fell out of the chest like rotton fruit would spill out of a container it sloshed around as they spilled out of the body they wriggled around outside like worms , It was nauseating. Despite having his organs being held in tight grip the snow prowler didnt die, not immediately , (unfortunately,) snow prowlers were stupidly strong. They had to be if they wanted to survive in these lands, so it wasnt much of a surprise to see it still breathing when it tripped over his own intestinal tract.

The Curse did not let go at first, It just kept a hold of the organ in its-no- Dark Choco's- hand. Dragging it the poor thing by its entrails leaving a river of jam behind them. The only reason the Curse let go was because the prowler got blocked by some fallen logs , It had to let go if It wanted to catch up to the remaining pack members. It bled out and his soulstone was grabbed ,crushed and the shards consumed, buying the others just a little more time.

They watched in horror as the Accursed Entity got closer to the remaining three.

Not wasting any time , it lunged towards the forth prowler and began to ruthlessly clobber the skull with his son's fists , it was a miracle that his hands weren't taking any damage, until the skull inevitably chipped under the relentless force of the attacks, the pieces of bone cut into his son's skin. The snow prowler tried suddenly stopping in the hopes that the force built up from her speed would be enough to throw off her assailant, but no such luck. The malicious Thing held firm as delivered more attacks to to the skull. WHACK! CRUNCH! CRACK! Each it hit splintered off more and more bone until it Eventually it was too much, the skull burst open like a piñata at one of Hollyberry cookie's birthday party. Instead of sweets there was only the grey brain matter of the animal beneath jam coated arms and hair.

The brain matter looked a lot like scrambled sugar bird eggs or an intestine wound up into a ball of gory yarn that been unwound .

It didnt dwell on this kill at all, just ate it and moved to the next with cruel efficiency and malicious glee.

The remaining two werent very far from their view.

They were the smallest in the pack, one barely reaching adolescence whilst the other was barely out of childhood.

It was sickening.

They were running for thier lives. Tears dripping down thier faces, in this light Dark Cacao was reminded of his subjects. They also had the same look of fear in thier eyes when they were in danger.

Instead of jumping onto his back like the last prowlers , the Curse simply reached out an arm and held onto the tail before viciously ripping it off and taking a left turn disappearing from sigh again only to appear right next to them, tail in hand.

The jaw was long since discarded by now.

The Curse grabbed the lrowler by the scruff of his neck and pulled him down. The snow prowlers didnt fall though , no and perhaps that was its undoing because instead of getting angry the Curse laughed manically and dug the jam stained boots into the ground. Pulling the prowler at certain intervals to force the animal in a desired direction causing the speed of his trajectory to shift which it then used to wrap the tail around his throat and start squeezing. The prowler began to gasp and thrash at the Thing holding him but to no avail. Instead of just lying down and taking it , he got up and started running . It was aimless, chaotic and desperate, a final attempt to live that would ultimatly fail. With each step the tail was tightened, each attempt made him lose more air until he was just running all over the place, barley seeing where he was going. Vision blurry from oxygen deprivation. Which made it all too easy for the curse to steer his shambling body onto a branch. Thus impaling him.

The noise upon impact almost made Dark Cacao throw up . It was like the spund of a water baloon filled with jelly popped against a sharp dart.

SSSQUURSHSHSHS!!

Dark Choco's body simply opened his mouth and breathed in all the fog the agony accumulated along with the soul, consuming the pain like a meal before reaching through the maw of the dead prowler, slicing through the flesh at the back of the throat and plunging the limb deeper into the body before ripping out another soulstone and repeating its process again. Dark Cacao watched as his son's body grew a slightest bit taller, a liitle bit sharper and a little less thin. It wasnt an improvement by his standards but it was an improvement of some kind. It was also a confirmation, the Strawberry Jam Sword's connection was more symbiotic in nature then parasitic. Breaking that connection would be more difficult then he originally assumed.

Dark Cacao was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard a small whine disturb the silence. Dark Choco's head snapped up to see what the noise was, it was the cub. The baby snow prowler.

It was the smallest in the pack and barely out of infancy.

Dark Cacao knew what was coming .

He knew he couldn't stop it.

But his emotions still threatened to spill over his logic.

He shook with the effort of trying to keep himself in check.

His eyes were two bright white balls of light, the lower half of his face bathed in shadows, his hands now giant claws.

His Twin Dragons sensed this was going to get worst if they didnt interfere and thus acted accordingly. White Dragon shifted around some more until the king was fully surrounded by white scales. Black Dragon, still in their minature form, started to increase thier body temperature until the cold faded away leaving only warmth in its place.

Dark Cacao's mind was aflood of emotions. Anger, hate, self loathing, remorse, pity, anguish all swirled together like an unholy concotion of soup for the Ghoul within him to feed upon.

He felt the Ghoul rear his head and claw at the mental walls, looking for a weakness so he could breach the containment Dark Cacao kept him locked in. He could feel his screams echoing in his head along with the unrelenting torrent of emotion, a storm within him threatening to drown him.

It was cold.

So

So

So very cold.

He couldnt feel anything else but the cold. It dug into his very bones and threatened to rip to pieces big enough for the Ghoul to slip out of.

Somthing was happening . Somthing outside of his mind.
Somthing real.

Dark Cacao felt his enviroment shift around him ,for trapping him or hiding him he didnt know.

Then the warmth started creeping to chase away the cold. That was odd. He was cold , like the snow; like the stone; like the weather ; like ice. He had allways been cold. Why was there warmth now?

He felt two other presences in his mind. Two small stars trying to brave the storm within him. Two specks of light within his darkness.

They were winning, he could feel them getting closer and closer until

Somthing was touching him.

There was a weight on his forehead.

Dark Cacao blinked.

He felt warm.

He felt safe.

Looking around he saw he was in another coil. The weight was Black Dragon on his shoulder leaning their small form on his face.

Master?
Master?

He could feel thier concern in his mind as if it was real tangible thing he could reach out and touch.

He sighed.

Yes,Twin Dragons?

He could immediately feel thier concern be washed away by relief.

I am fine. Im assuming the Ghoul tried to escape?

Yes,Master
Yes ,Master

Am i also correct to assume niether of you are going to let me out of the coil?

We are only following your orders master.
Indeed you did give your permission.

...

Dark Cacao Cacao pinched the bridge of his nose , to wake himself up further not because he was annoyed. He wasnt annoyed with them, no, he was annoyed with himself getting overwhelmed. He is a king . He is supposed to be better then this. he is-

Another realisation came unbidden to his mind.

He is doing it again. How irratating. He swore to himself to be better , yet he keeps falling back into his old mindset..perhaps his dragons were right. He should seek professional help.

But that was somthing that would have to wait.

He looked up at the coiled cocoon above him and asked
"How much longer until the projaction is done?"

"Not too long, we are currently at the part where the Curse kills the cub, we saw six corpses not eight. Its possible the remaining two escaped. We will uncoil when the cub murder is done. is that aliright with you Master?"

"Yes, it is. "

White Dragon acknowledged his answer and continued as thier brother kept thier Master distracted from his thoughts.

The possessed kin had just finished impaling the last prowler and consuming its soul and was going after the cub.

Instead of making its presence known like its previous victims it had taken a different approach.

Now it was just stalking the puny cub.

Allowing the cub to think it had outrun the monster before it would appear and terrrorise the little thing into running some more. Breaking it's leg when the cub slowed down .

But it was getting bored.

And it was getting close to dawn , it was a few hours off but not enough to successfully hunt the other two. It must have sensed this because its face changed to one of cheer to annoyed reluctance.

The cub had started slowing down by this point , its energy running low after spending so much time running with a broken hind leg.

White dragon should probably feel sorry for it but they and Black dragon would and had cause similar things to happen in thier youth. Unfortunately they and thier brother werent very empathetic to those outside of thier masters reach. After all they vowed to serve him nobody else.

They'd be lieing if they said they didnt care though, spending time amongst the civilian cookies had softened thier hearts. They would be seen socialising with the citizens when they weren't busy with whatever task Dark Cacao had given them. The dragons werent very good with emotions either, they did thier best but thier Master needed a cookie whom was better qualified for these issues . The Twin dragons were also still learning themselves.

White Dragon took note of how much the Curse generated that vile energy. It was intriguing yet horrifying. They definitely recognised it ,but from where?

They watched as the Entity drew closer and closer to the cub, having it backed up against the cliff walls, accidentally aggravating its injury. Its coat was covered in its own jam and it was crying as the possesed kin approached.

The poor cub trembled at the sight of its familys killer. White Dragon observed how gleeful the Entity bacame as the cub more and more fearful, thus producing more of that wretched fog.

The possessed kin stood there for a moment , salivating at the meal before it.
.

.

..

.
.
The cookie pounced on the snow prowler, eye socket full of glee and bloodlust. It landed on the cub's back wrapping the kin's legs around its throat , it grasped the flesh in his jam covered ands and began to pull.

White Dragon watched as the cub repeated the actions of its family members and tried to throw off the assailent only to no avail. It desperately tried anything it could from rolling to trying to run into the rocks to try and squash the fiend on its back.

The grip tightened more and more just like the past prowlers but at the last second it loosened its grip. Not enough to let go but enough to breath. It pulled the head backwards further then how was naturally naturally meant to go and just kept on pullling it up and back.

White Dragon watched as the cubs airways twisted in on itself , listened its choked breaths and garbling as it tried to whine for help . It was disgusting yet they could not look away. The flesh wasnt able to handle the strain and started to come apart with every tug.

The cub's whines giving way to primal screams that eched throughout the forest as the neck finally detatched from the rest of the body with a horrible

SSSKRREELLSHH

White Dragon uncoiled just as the cub's soulstone was consumed. The sight of such a small yet bright light being consumed by the darkness sent a chill through thier scales. The Twin Dragon's themsevles were responsible for many deaths but they would not in a million years cross a line like this. The body and physical remains of the hunt were expected to be consumed but the soul? That was sacred. A line no animal crossed. But it looked like one cookie did ..a Very very very long time ago.

Dark Cacao stepped out of the coil and stretched a little bit , shivering at the cold breeze that was seeping into him now he had left the warmth of the coil. The old king was struggling to stay awake , je hadnt gotten much sleep before the celabrations and not much afterwards. Safe to say, he was so very tired.

White Dragon looked to thier brother and tilted thier head in a questioning angle. Black Dragon responded with a swish of his tail, indicating thier master was fine for the time being but they should get him to rest as soon as possible. White Dragon wanted to ask if he was okay but they had dobe so at least 3 times thar night , asking a forth time would seem too much and annoy the young king.

Dark Cacao stretched some more and turned to his right where the mages were supposed to he, but he didnt see them. The projection was still thete, which could only mean it wasnt over yet.

What could this projection possibly show me now? More murder?

Dark Cacao thought to himself and he pinched the bridge of his nose warily . He looked up to watch the blood civerd cookie in fron of him wearing his sons face. The core of his son was glowing brighter now but the darkness around it was also stronger.
As if sensing this, the Curse scoffed and looked up at the sky. The darkness was fading and it would soon lighten from black to grey.

"Tch. This Was Fun but It Seems Like Time Has Passed. Far Too Quickly For My Taste. I Should Get Moving . The Boy Will Wake Soon Enough. How Unfortunate, He Is Much More Tolerable When He's Quiet. But Oh Well, i Cant Control Him All The Time , Though i Wish i Could. I Should Also Wash All This Viscera Off, No Doubt The Vessel Reaction Will Be Bothersome."

It turned to the left ,apparently hearing somthing and walked towards it. Dark Cacao looked around to see whatwhatriver came into sight, was looking for. A river came into view but even that looked wrong in its vision. Instead of ordinary water the stream mirrored the inky black of the sky, but unlike the sky with a few faint dots bobbing in out of view .

Must be the fish ... what is it doing now?

I assume he is going to wash off all the mess. I doubt your kin eould take it well if he woke ip covered in jam.

True but the projection should be finished by now. Unless its going to show us somthing else?

...possibly

Dark Cacao thoughts were a mess the, coil had helped somewhat but he was still quite shaken. The sleep deprivation wasnt helping much either.

Somthing else was happening, the black river was turning into a very dark shade of blue. Not only that the trees were regaining some of their original color and the sky was covered in clouds, granted they were looked wrong but Dark Cacao could definitely see the usual grey that colored them and not that horrid red . The Curse's influence was fading, or perhaps it was withdrawing.

Dark Cacao watched as the Curse approached the stream , it untied the strip of cloth tethering the sack to his back before kneeling on the snow. It splashed some water on his son's face, washing away the Viscera coating the body. Dark Cacao made note of how his sons soulstone flickered brighter as the water made contact with his dough. Interesting. So his son was aware at least on a subconscious level.

The Curse rolled its eye at that and spoke again

"Tsk , Calm Yourself Boy. Its Only Some Water. You Are Safe, Calm And All You Need To Do For Now Is Forget The Deaths That Happened Tonight."

Once again the fog tried to smother the light but this time the light didnt fade. It refused. Hope bloomed in Dark Cacao's chest. His son was able to fight back, granted this wasnt much but it was a chance!

The Curse groaned in annoyance, after it was done shaking off most of the water on hi in his sons hair ,it opened the sack and slipped the chainmail shirt and retied the jeogori in a rush. It looked up and stared into the distance.

"The last Village Isnt Too Far from Here. A Horse Can Be Easily Obtained. Its Doubtful any Villagers Will Be Awake Yet" .

The Curse continued walking towards the village , following the streams direction. Its steps much more quiet self assured and confident. But not as quiet as his sons were. The snow still softly crunched underfoot as ot walked.

The body also moved in a way that indicated rejuvenation, mostly from all the carnage it had wrought and the souls consumed earlier.

The surroundings were changing too ,ckearly to show the Strawberry Jam Sword's control was slipping. The sky looked less of a bizaree artwork and more normal albirt a bit odd still an improvment. The clouds were now visible Nd noblonger a horrid shade of red, they were grey like they should be. though they had a slightest tinge of red. The trees were back to thier usuall dead umber tones, the snow was white and not grey . His son's body was no longer a silouette, his facial features were fully visible once more . The river beside them was returning to its usual blueish white. The few birds that could sing were above them twiitering in the early dawn sky as they tried to fly in the storm. The few cacao hawks they could see were still asleep in thier nests.

The world was quiet in thier slumber but tense , knowing somthing was amiss.

It wasnt long before the village came into view. It was the last village in Dark Cacao's reach. The last village on the edge of his kingdom.

It was a small settlement, only around a hundred cookies in total. Thier homes in a ring formation facing eachother as if huddled together to escape the cold of the snow.

The storm raged on coating everything in sight with a blanket of white the howling winds also distorting any noise that could give it's position away. Usually there would be some watchers keeping an eye out for any intruders, but it seemed like tyey were carrying out thier duties from within thier towers.Understandable given the severity of the storm.

The situation made it a too easy for that wretched Thing to infiltrate the sanctity of the village. All the windows were dark, no candles were lit, the streets completly devoid of life. Perfect for it to slip into .

It's steps were a bit more rushed now that it had gotten closer to its target. The stables werent far from its current location. Its steps weren't as stealthy as his son's, it was noticable as it hurried to its current target , the stables. As expected the stables were on the edge of the small town.

Another small building look to be only able of holding around fifty or a seventy at most . The door was old and half open , swaying in the wind. All too easy for it to slip through the gap. But not without a loud

CRREEEAAAKKK

echoing into the bulding to announce its presence.

Dark Cacao smirked at its momentary panic. Its chasm of an eye thinned as it darted left and right looking for a hiding place.

There was none available. the few stalls in reach were occupied with sleeping horses which Cacao found odd. Shouldnt they have awoken from the noise?

Click

Click

Click

Someone was still in the stable. A relevation that clearly invoked panic in the Curse upon realisation. It was amusing to witness its utter panic at being unprepared . It was also informative for Dark Cacao he could use this reaction to further build a psychological profile to work against it should it try to make things difficult.

The Curse continued panickimg looking leftvand right for a hiding place when the chasm landed on the rafters. With no hesitation it leapt upwards and scrambled for a grip .Just in time as the source of tge noises came into view.

It was a young cookie looking to be in the early teens, still had baby fat in thier cheeks. They wore a navy jeogori and had a blanket wrapped around thier shoulders that was trailing behind them. Had they been sleeping in the stables? How odd. The cookie's eyes were half open still bleary from thier interupted sleep. They blinked ther green eyes and thier gaze landed upon the door.

They shivered , the cold winds waking them up a bit. They pulled thier blanket around them tighter as the young cookie went to push the door shut and places a pushed a chocolate block in front of the doir with some difficulty . After a few moments of huffing and puffing they sat down on the brick and leaned against the old door to catch thier breath.

"I cant keep doing this again and Again. Ugh, Pa seriously needs to get this fixed or at least let me do it. The horses are gonna catch thier deaths at this rate"

The irate cookie grumbled to themself in the dark. After a couple of minutes they stood up and took a step for to forward get back to doing whatever it was before they were doing before the door disturbed them. They baey took a step forward when they gelt thier shoe make contact with somthing wet.

The cookie looked down in frustration

"..Did i forget to mop around here?"

They squinted at the puddle in front of them and tilted thier head in confusion.

"No, im pretty suee i did these puddles are too be mop puddles, to many too. And theyre all over the place..."

Huh, this one is smart, despitr ththem being half asleep. The navy cookie stepped forward once more, taking care to step ondry land. Theirr gaze followed the trail of water to the rafters .

Dark Cacao held his breath in dread, was that thing going to kill an innocent bystander ? Of course it would murder is its favourite pasttime.

The navy cookies gaze rose from the puddles to the top of the rafters, and made contacr with the demon perched there.

They didnt get the chance to scream when it pounced before they could inhale enough air to scream for help.

Despite his son's malnutrition , his body retained his inhuman strength which was more then enough to subdue the cookie in danger.

They tried to punch and scratch at the face of the assailent but that didnt seem to bother them at all. Which was clearly a cause for fear.

"Are You Done With Your Pointless Struggling?"

The cookie froze, recognition flooded thier expression. They looked up at the figure and choked out

"P-Prince Dark Choco cookie?"

The Curse tilted his sons head at that painfull angle and scrutinised the cookie with the same curiosity a child would regard a bug before pulling off its wings but clearly laced with dark intensions .

"You Know the vessel?"

The cookie let out a confused and a little afraid , which was warrented afterall his son was coveted in blackish-red pulsating roots and was not acting like himself.

"what?"

Clearly not yet understanding the ex-monarch was possessed.

"Interesting. But Where Does He Know You From ? Has He Been Trying To Conceal His Memorys Again?"

That statement brought up another slew of questions. Did this cookie know his son? They called him 'prince' , did Dark Choco visit this village proir to his banishment or did he visit them during the pale ailment? Also, 'conceal his memories'? Wasnt the Curse residing within his mind? How would Dark Choco be able conceal anything from a thing that is so deeply entertwined ? Unless his situation with the Ghoul is similar to that of the Sword? But if that was the case then why hadnt Dark Choco constructed some mental walls? Unless he did and that didnt work. The Strawberry Jam Curse seemed much more sentient then the Ghoul. The fact that the Ghoul was a warped form of protection made from a desire to protect himself from his soul jam merged with a dark spell by a red priestess and The Strawberry Jam was a power that was still mostly unknown origins might also be a factor.

Dark Cacao placed a hand on his head and applied some pressure, his head was aching from all the nights events. But he'd be re-baked if he didnt see this through.

The projection changed again. The Curse must have found the memory in question and the projection showed it.

The scene momentarily changed and dark Cacao watched a brief scene where his son ran through the village in broad daylight at what must have been the height of the pale ailment pandemic going door to door with arms full of choco shoots quickly giving them to the first person opening the door before moving onto the next.

The scene was quick but Dark Cacao was easily see the relief on the village's faces at the sight of the cloaked figure with choco shoots. Brief was the deed the villagers recieved , but the hope it brought was much needed . In the background the navy cookie was watching and subtly distracting the guards so his son could leave without being seen.

It warmed Dark Cacao's heart and answered at least one question.

The scene changed back to the current hostage situation,contrasting the hope to the tense fear.

"Ah. Found it . You're The Little Gnat That Would Distract The Authorities So The Vessel Could Leave Without Being Seen."

The cookies eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and confusion as they processed its words.

"You arent our prince"

Not a question , a statment. They had pieced it together with just one sentence.

They seem to be a quick-witted one.

Indeed, Black Dragon.

The Curse didnt a reply, it simply tilted his sons head at that painfull angle and stared at the hostage.

It stared at them for an uncomfortable time. Not speaking, Not moving. The only form of any movement was the spasming of black in the carmine abyss.

Dark Cacao squeezed the hilt of his sword , his anxiety mounting.

The cookie's form started warmping the more the curse stared, soon enough Dark Cacao could make out a faint outline of a glowing of a soulstone. Dark Cacao's breath refused to leave his lungs, was it going to eat this one too?

Apparently the cookie had had enough of the staring so they sneezed right at the eye socket.

The Curse jolted back in shock and disgust, which gave the navy cookie enough time to dart past it and run into the stables.

The Curse was furiuosly scrubbing sons face foe a few minutes before it growled and flexed his sons claws hands causing a small shong to ring out in the stables as if it had unsheathed a blade.

"I See . You Want to play. Very Well Then, i Shall Indulge You."

Just as he said that his sons spulstone flared to life and the monster stumbled clutching the chest where the soulstone was supposed to be.

"Calm yourself boy, i wont kill them. There isnt enough time and your insubordination is going to cost you later. I will make sure of it"

The curse ran through the stabkes , not caring to sikent anylonger. which was odd. Not tge curse but yhe lack of response from the surroundings . The commotion was very loud, and they were surrounded by bitter horses . Those were deathly loyal, so why weren't they reacting? The red haze wasnt Coming out from anywhere anywhere but his son, so what was going on?

It's steps were loud and rushed and slightly paniced, nothing like the sadistic hunter not even an hour prior. it was behaving the way a common robber would, panicking like they were about to be caught. Which Dark Cacao knew wouldnt hapoen . Because it it was then thete wpuld have been a drastically different outcome. No it would steal a horse and leave. That much was likly to happen.Dark Cacao was aware of that , his earlier hopes of intercepti g his sons path was unlikly to happen now. But he wouldnt let that deter him .He was Dark Cacao cookie and he would resolve to continue searching . Time was no problem for him, he was immortal . Dark Cacao could only hope that had been passed down to his son as well.

The steps of the persuer echoed in the small space , distorting making it sound like there were multiple cookies in the stable. The Curse wasa good hunter but the cookie knew theses grounds much better than it. After all it was unlikly his sons memories of this village would yield plentiful results for it to exploit.

Every so often it would burst into empty stable, thiinkung the cookie was hiding in there but everytime it would turn up to be wrong. That was driving it up the wall. Dark Cacao found its irritation amusing to see. He felt partially vindicated in its panic.

But that didnt last.

As much as the cookie tried , weaving in and out of the stables, hiding behind sleeping horses and generally being as quiet as a mouse. Thier prowess wasnt enough against the Curse's releentless nature.

The Curse found them when they aaccidentally tripped over the blanket that had slipped from thier shoulders and fell to the floor with a thunk .

Dark Choco's head once again did that stomach churning snap which got the navy cookie to accidentally make eye contact just as it turned the head around to face them.

They didnt even get to breath before it swiftly brought down a fist on thier head, knocking them out .

It stood there for a couple of minuites breathing and staring at them.

It raised a claw and for a second Dark Cacao was sure it was going to kill them , but his son decided now was the perfect time to interupt its plotting.

The soulstone flared up all of a sudden and the light from the soulstone eclipsed the darkness trying to extinguish the spurce of Dark Choco's resistance causing it to almost be smothered and Dark Cacao could see the tendrils retreat as the light shined.

Dark Choco's body collapsed and spasmed as the two forces wresteled for control.

Hope warmed Dark Cacao's freezing body and his eyes shinedas he watched his childs soul fight for control to protect that cookie. A voice in the back of his own mind whispered that knew his son managed to not kill one cookie but what abput all the rest of the carnage he caused? his son wasnt strong enough to keep the darkness at bay forever, if he was then this would not have happened.

Dark Cacao shoved that voice in a the recesses of his mind and contineed watching his son fight back. It wasnt a fight by traditional means but it could be seen as one when looked through the same way as Dark Cacao looked at it. He watched as the soul shined and burnt the darkness and he watched the roots wither away it by bit. He watched as the Curse try in vain spread the roots back over the soul but each time it made contact more and more would burn , it was failing to keep his son under control. He watched as the Curse finally lost its resolve and gave up its plan to kill the unconscious cookie.

" FINE! I Yield! There! Happy!? That one wont die by our hand! "

Even when asleep, his child still fought. Dark Cacao was so proud. He'd tell his Dark Choco as much as he could when they'd meet again.

The glow of the carmine chasms had decreased to little more then a glimmer ,as did the roots they were still there but now they were a Lot thinner, like a sapling just starting to lay its roots . Interesting. Perhaps the strugggle had taken more out of it then it had initially thought it would.

Regardless of which was true, the tired King's heart was alight with joy at the Curse's minor defeat.

Despite Dark Cacao's still form and stoic expression all one would have to do is look at his eyes and his joy would be obvious, his eyes would have little sparkle to them that showed when he was happy. His mind was filled with some much needed joy and hope, so much so that the Twin Dragons were able to feel it in its entirely instead of the echo of thier masters emotions.

It seemed like the saying ' Joy is infectious' was true in this case. They hadnt felt thier master feel this happy in a Long time.

The Curse slowly got up , almost stumbling to the ground when it tried to force the body to go up quicker then it should. But after a few tries it managed to get the body to cooperate for the most part.

The movements were jerky and sluggish , much like his sons earlier movements before the Curse possesed him.

Dark Cacao found satisfaction in it's difficulty, the body was not it's to command.

With some struggle it managed to drag the navy cookie to a small storage closet that it had passed by when it was looking for them. Grumbling about insubordinate hosts and how morality was irrelavent in the long term and why was he kicking up such a fuss about taking one measly life. Its not like theyll amount to anything important anyway and on and on and on. It was rather annoying to watch.

It rifled through thier pockets for a couple of minutes looking for the key. Dark Cacao had assumed it would just break through the wood but perhaps it didnt have enough energy for that, or it was conserving what little it had.

It inserted the key into the lock after a few failures due to his sons hands shaking. The key unlocked with a quick chlik and the door opened without a creak.

The Curse managed to drag the cookie inside the small storage without too much trouble.

The storage closet was small there was a few shelves cleaning chemicals, some first aid kits, a couple of hoof maintenance tools. In the opposite corner was a a stack of buckets, some mops and a couple of brooms.

There was barely enough space for the unconscious cookie to lie down, but after a bit of shuffling it was done. The Curse had even adjusted the blanket to cover them so they wouldnt freeze to death. Although it was probanly doing that so Dark Choco would stay asleep for a while longer.

It noticed and took somthing in the corner of the shelves out of Dark Cacao's view. He could see it was small , circular and a very familiar indigo color.

Slumbershade berries. .. that explains why the horses werent reacting.

Slumbershade berries were a type of berry that grew in the forest of the Cacao kingdom. They were nutrient rich and had a tart tangy flavour to them and an enticing floral scent. The main use of those berrys were to place patients into an induced sleep and give thier body a fighting chance to heal. The berrys had to be very carefully handled and each dose thoroughly calculated. As helpful as they were, the berries could easily kill a cookie when or if handled incorrectly. Much like every medicine, it can be used as a poison when used in a specific way.

But they were in a stable and clearly the berries must have been used as sedation for the horses to sleep through the storm. that explained why there was no reaction to the commotion earlier.

Cookies weren't able to eat more then 3 berries without some other herbs mixed in to dilute its effects enough to be beneficial for them.

Horses however, were a different case. Horses were easily able eat more then a handful and the berrys grew plenty on the dense underbrush of the woods for the wild horses to eat, they had an inane resistance to them, though the horses would fall asleep soon after eating some when they were mixed with a blend of other herbs .It was one of the main ways they had tamed them. The cookies provided shelter and food and the horses carried out tasks and protected them. A mutually beneficial bond.

Unlike that Parasitic Curse.

The Curse stepped out of the supply closet and tucked the berrys into the cloak pocket, apparently deciding tgey would be of use somhow. Probably another murder weapon it could use.

Dark Cacao made a mental note and continued watching.

The Curse opened a few stalls and looked for a horse that was awake. Unfortunately for it , most of them were asleep. That is until they got to the last stall, there was an elderly mare that had just woken up by the looks of it.

The Curse slowly came forwards slowly and offered the berrys it stole to her. The mare, not knowing the one in front of them was not to trusted.

The Curse took a few steps and beckoned the old mare to come closer, she did.

That was her mistake.

The second she got close enough to the Curse it lashed out the other arm and a bolt of black lightening travelled from the darkness around the soulstone through the outstretched arm put from his son's fingertips and into the old mare.

The Curse darted outside the stable and watched from a safe distance as the mare thrashed and bucked as it's black magic started to take hold of her.

Dark Cacao's earlier joy was overtaken by dread as he watches the same roots that covered his child , start to cover the poor mare. .. the area it had touched her began to darken and thin dripping roots that looked like viens began to spread across her face, down her neck and into her eyes.

Its not somthing pleasant, to hear a horse scream.

No matter how loud it cried nobody came.

It wasnt long before the poor mares eyes turned into the same shade of red as the abyss ,only lacking the eye slit to match .

The poor thing got up , now under a will foreign to her own . Her body twitched and jerked around as the Curse got a better control over the form it was manipulating .

It beckoned her further and she did, it wasnt like she was a position to say no. Dark Cacao scrutinised her the horse's possesed body more closely and if he squinted a bit he could see her soulstonewas still glowing under the roots. She was still alive.

Though he doubted it would stay that way.

The Curse jopped onto her back directed the the horse to the door it had enterdd through. When it got there it hopped of and shoved the cinderblock to the side, it struggled a fair bitbto do so whilst simultaneously keeping his son asleep and controlling the horse along with his sons body under its control.

Dark Cacao could see the tendrils on his son weaken further and it must have sensed this too. It wadted no time getting back onto the horse and riding out into the storm.

The storm had lessend but only a little. The snow still poured down, the wind still howled the only difference was it was just a bit lighter. Dawn was approaching.

The landscapes changed from white to barren fields to grassy landscapes blurred as the mare practically flew over the ground beneath her hooves. But as she galloped the Tendrils adorning his childs skin withdrew bit by bit . It was slow but it was happening.

At some point the mare collapsed after all that running , her body crashed from her tripping over a pothole in dirt road ,she just lay there gasping for breath as the Curse got up from where it had landed ,withdrew its control and walked off.

The blackish-red roots withered away from her the further it got and regrew on his son. It walked for a few miles, not stopping once ,nor saying anything. it just walked , silently . The abyss got dimmer and dimmer, the roots that regrew were pulsating less and less.

But despite there being more, they did not smother the light of his childs soulstone. The darkness wasnt able to extinguish the light ,but that didnt mean the light was able to overcome it either. Both were just there, existing. But the light was getting stronger. His was going to wake up soon.

The Curse knew this, it had stopped producing that red fog awhile ago. Which brought up more questions for Dark Cacao. Questions like how entertwined is the Curse and Choco? How has the distance from effected the connection? How often is it able to possess his son? Does there have to be specific conditions for it to able to possess Choco? If are the souls consumed are different species ,does his also get traits from said creature or does the Curse get them and give them to his son to aid in its hunt for more? His son did grow a little bit when the Curse consumed the magic.

So many questions ,yet so few answers.

Dark Cacao sighed and got back to watching the projection .

The Curse had come by a river and was washing his sons face , getting out some blood it had missed before.

The light was getting brighter still. By now the Curse's vision of the surroundings had vanished. No more red,black,grey and white. The world was back in technicolour glory. His son was nearing the Hollyberry kindom.

There goes my earlier plans of intercepting him. Ill just have to send troops to Berry Beach then. . Though , i will have to get clearancs from Hollyberry. Sending my soldiers without notifying her will lead to consequences....hopefully Dark Choco hasnt set sail yet.

Afterwards it walked over to a tree that nearby and simply sat down leaning on the thick tree trunk. It leaned his son's body againdt the trunk and withdrew its control. The roots grew thinner and thinner until all that was left was a few light and barely noticable scar lines around the top half his face, that was mostly hidden behind his hair and partially visible around his throat. The empty eye socket closed and black ooze spilled out coating the rim of the eye lid , it glowed red and the eye sealed itself back up as if it had never opened in the first place, the ooze then dried up and crumbled away. The glowing soulstone also faded away and Dark Cacao was then faced with his son sleeping peacefully against yhe treebark with the sack acting like impromptu cushion.

It didnt look very comfortable, but after the night hed just watched he doubted it would have mattered to his son. He watched his child's slumber he was so quiet, so blissfully unaware.

I wonder if he'll remember what happened or if he'll forget like the Curse told him to. How many times has this happened? How many times did my child become an unwitting killer? How many times has he been hurt? Can he feel pain when he's possessed? Can the memories be recalled? If possible, then for how long would it take to remember?? Would the Curse try to supress those memorys immediatly or is it only able to suppress the memorys when Dark Choco is compromised?

Dark Cacao sighed for tge umpteenth time that ..night, day? Who knows. Not him.All he knew was that his composure was hanging by a thread. His emotions were fighting with each other for first place and he was so tired.

But he wasn't going to allow the Ghoul Ghoul to take over. he was a king and he had responsibilities. So ,like any king, he pushed his emotions to the side and focused.

He stared at his sons slumbering form and memorised every detail he could. All his scars,the way he breathed,the little twitches in his sleep.

Dark Cacao could only hope the next he saw his son it would be on happier terms or at least nuetral terms. He'd accept that the possibility of reunion being far into the future but that didnt mean that he couldnt plan for it now nor try his best in the mean time.

Watching the rise and fall of his childs breathing was rather calming , it reminded him of when Dark Choco was still a soft bundle of dough. When his eyes were full of determination and innocence.

The projection of Dark Choco looked so tangible , like he could reach and make contact. He refrained from doing so however. As tired as he was , Dark Cacao needed to be mindful of his actions, he had been too wreckless as it is . The court mages mentioned this spell would be used in the pending investigation that he would have to oversee now that Dark Choco is involved. He has allowed the Ghoul too much of an upper hand. Multiple times that night.

He cant let it out now, not yet. Its not safe for any of them.

Dark Cacao's self scolding was interupted before it get too invested when he felt another prod from the small Black Dragon perched upon his shoulder.

Master! Look, your kin is waking!

Already?

Id assume so since that thing has kept him asleep for the better part of the projection.

Dark Cacao watched as his son's eye, his normal non possesed eye that still had an eyeball within the socket, tensed before it was slowlyy opened. Squinting at the ray of light that was shining in it through the leafs in the branches. Dark Choco expression changed from one of drowsiness to confusion at the sight.

Hm not even a minuite of being awake, yet he is already analysing his surrundings.

He is a crafty one , Master.

Indeed White Dragon.

Hopefully his confusion implys some part of him remembers the nights events...

They watched with bated breath as young vagabond blinked and stretched as he looked around for more context clues. Rubbing his eyes the projection flashed back to the beginning of the Curse's hunt .

It was not even a minuite , just a flicker of the dark forest and the image of red light illuminating a little ways ahead of him.

And then the scene reurned to normal . That was it? That was all his son remembered?

"I must have pushed through it and then passed out on this tree. How embarrassing, hopefully nobody's seen me. "

What? That was it? That was all Dark choco rememberedm the whirlpool of emotions within Dark Cacao began to pick up speed as his fears were validated. Dark Choco didnt remember and didnt even look the slightest bit bothered at the lack of memorys his mind was providing him. How many times would this very situation have had to play out for Dark Choco to become this nonchalant ?... Unless this was the first time the Curse told him to forget . It did mention it wanted to avoid Choco having a supposed fit.. and it would have no reason to supress back then when it wanted his suffering. It would also keep Dark Choco save time on his persuit of saftey, no doubt his reaction to the events could have been thpught of as a waste of time..perhaps the distance from the swords was also a factor?? So many questions yet not even a kernal of truth anywhere to be found.

Dark Cacao shook his head, his questions could wait for later.

There was a brief flicker of that vile red smog from the Curse and Dark Cacao got the distinct feeling that it was It was ammused at his child assumption. . But he paid it no mind as he untied the fabric binding the sack on his back and putting it down beside him,he got himself comfortable amonst the roots of the tree and grabbed the loaf bread from yesterday as well as fishing out the pastry too. It looked a bit stale but Dark Choco didnt seem to mind. He just brought out his flask and took a swig of water before before gobbling the pastry and a few bread slices ,like a gremlin , without an ounce of the decorum he had been taught in his younger years.

Dark Cacao could feel the twin dragons approve of his child's more ravenous manners.

His son's respite was not very long. He got up almost immediately after eating. Only stopping for a few seconds to bring out his new compass Humbug cookie left him . Dark Choco sighed and jis thoughts filled the silence.

" more walking for me , i guess. At least i slept well, i have plenty of energy from that"

There was another bolt of red at that comment but jis son once again elected to ignore it and looked at his compass for a few moments before setting off again..

By the Witches, that boy has no sense of self care. Not that Dark cacao can be one for criticisms regarding work ethics, je was just as, if not more, terrible at taking time for himself.

And just like before , his son's image got smaller and smaller the further he stepped from his kingd grounds. kingdom's. By now it was likley too late to intercept him , but perhaps he could send out troops to the beach instead?

The projection wobbled again before falling apart for the last time. Leaving the scene of a spell well cast in its place.

The incense and fire had long since burnt out, the intricately drawn symbols and sigils were smudged and unintelligible, like ink in water, blending into the snow and tainting the white with shades of grey reminicent of the Curse's vision . The hand written talismen were nothing but glowing embers floating down from the branches and melting into the snow. The burnt edges sparkling with the magic that was still imprinted on them, glimmering slightly. There in center sat a glowing orb that kept changing . First it was red like his son's eye but then it would darken until it was black like the Curse and almost immediately after the orb would flash white and would slowly turn into one of the colors of a mage's magic before bleeding into the next . The three colors warping together until it looked like it was caging the curse within the little sphere.

It was cold, too cold. But Dark Cacao's body was numb from the long exposure to the blistering winds of the forest. His armour doing very little to protect him from the coldness of the surroundings. Not that he cared at the moment. he was too busy trying to keep his emotions in check. His eyes were the only indication of that fact, the sharp glare of white kept trying to overtake the vibrant purple.

The bags under the kings eyes were damp with tears he had not realised were there. The cold was stinging a little which kept Dark Cacao grounded for the time being. He busied himself with helping the three mages back into the carriage that had brought them there, the orb placed in Gateau cookie's hands. Thankfully the driver was still awake. Apparently she was used to the long nights. She didnt offer much conversation , which Dark Cacao appreciated at the time. He didnt feel up to speaking , too many words and emotions were rushing around his skull like a never ending cascade of salt. Each grain a thought or emotion , each one mixing with another until his mind was an unintelligible mess.

The Twin Dragons saw this and directed the last carriage to the a little ways outside the abandoned mines. This one had the sense to not ask any wursyions , no doubt his haunted expression hadnt helped the matter. Nor did his silence bring any comfort to thier anxious mind. Dark Cacao simply sat in the carriage staring into the distance as he tried to keep his Ghoul in check. The king could feel it's steel claws tearing at the inner walls of his cage as he frantically bashed the fists against the mental enclosure it was housed in. Each blow syncing up to the beat of his jelly heart thrashing in his chest like the worlds most distracting drum.

The second the carriage arrived at the mines, Dark Cacao jumped out of the passenger door and ran towards his target like jis like his life depended on it. Or more accurately his sanity, which in his opinion was a valud assumption. The Ghouls rampage was notsomthing je sjould leave to chance. No it was better to give it a targeted location as an outlet , lest a cookie of his be crumbled.

The Twin Dragons were at the edges of the property waiting for further instruction. Usually they wouls fly around the perimeter to ensure no nost cookie woukd dare to try and attack thier master when he was at his most vulnerable. The Ghoul would leave them be, sensing they meant no harm and would continue the localised rampage until there was no energy left to use.

The fists of the Ghoul rained down upon the rough grey exterior of the mines. Its blows accompanied by shrieks that could be heardacross the land for a few miles outwards. If one stopped to listen to the shrieks, they could mistake it for the crys of an entire courtyards worth of cookies weeping in unison, thats how loud it was, yet despite its morose crys there were no tears shed. Monsters werent able to cry afterall , that was an action reserved for cookies ,it wasnt a part of them . The catharsis tears usually brought wouldnt come to replace the festering despair, not for very long at least the numbness would fade and the pain would reclaim its place within him . Dark Cacao could and would forgive his son over and over again , but promising that to himself wasnt enough, he had to say it to his childs face. The face he turned away from far too many times. Perhaps then the pain within him could lessen .

Perhaps then Dark Cacao could learn how to forgive himself too.