''I am!''

Korak replied confidently.
"You are not. Your father is. However you will never be....''
Korak saw a feminine figure appear up ahead. He blinked and she dissapeared in a hallway.

Korak raced after the woman, entering the hallway mere seconds behind her. The hero paused, then cursed in frustration. The woman had vanished. Korak began to make her way slowly down the hallway. His eyes scanned every shadow carefully. His quarry was here, somewhere.

Korak paused as he felt a strange sensation wash over her. It began at the base of his neck, a prickling cold that spread up his scalp and down his spine. He shivered, then looked around wildly as he heard the voices. There was no one to be seen, he was alone, yet still he heard them, the disembodied accusations.

"You are weak, you are proud, you try to live up to your father but you know you will fail, he will die knowing that you will not be there to protect the jungle."

"No, that's not true!" Korak shook his head in denial and began to back out of the hallway the way he had come.

"Oh you know it is. Deep down Korak, you know. That is why you lie asleep at night, battling the need to drown your doubt with heroic deeds. A noose to strangle your doubts with." The insidious whispers continued, growing stronger.

"You're lying, that isn't true!. Come out and fight me you bitch. Or are you too scared?" Korak yelled angrily, searching for a sign of his tormentor.

"What is it like, to look at yourself in the mirror and know, you are a failure? Do the people of this jungle know the caliber of their guardians?" Mocking laughter seemed to fill the hallway, burning Korak's ears with the venom of its hatred.

"Shut up. you don't know anything about me! talk is cheap, come out and fight!" Korak lashed out at the wall in anger, flinched at the sudden pain in his knuckles. "Ow, what the fuck?"

"I know everything I need to know about you. You are uncertain, you are weak. You try to act tough. But you know that sooner or later you will fail and then everybody who relied on you will suffer."

"Noooooo!!!" Korak fled from the hallway back into the light, his mind spinning. It wasn't true, he was a hero and had saved people, hadn't he? "Come out where I can see you , face me! I am going to shove your lying teeth right down your throat!"

"Oh I don't think so." A female voice, vibrant, cold and filled with scorn said from behind Korak.

"What the, gghnnnnnhhhh?!?" Korak's startled exclamation was cut off as he felt the arms close around his neck and head, then felt the pressure that threatened to cut off his air supply and render him senseless. Korak was a fighter, he knew how much time he had before the lack of oxygen to his brain robbed him of consciousness. His training took over, his hands moving immediately to try to counter the hold. To his horror, he found that as strong as he was meant to be, his attacker was somehow stronger. Korak bucked and twisted, clawing at his attacker's arms wildly in panic as his head began to spin.

"Gghrrrkkk???"

"There is no escaping my hold, the unbreakable grip of Despair, little hero. You are pathetic and weak. It was easy to beat you mentally and now I have your body as well." The witch gloated as she easily maintained her hold on Korak despite the jungle boy's **** efforts to free himself. "This battle is over. It was over before we matched strength. You lose Korak, you will always lose."

The witch's laughter followed Korak down into the darkness and oblivion of defeat.