Interconnected: Spliced Souls

“Die! Just get the hell out of our way!!!” Llamare roared, cutting down another guard. His naginata's edge was reinforced by sharp blades of wind, allowing it to slice through metal as easily as a hot knife through butter. 

“Just let us through! You won't stop us! You're all going to face the great divines in the sky!” shouted Liealia, ducking low to avoid a horizontal stab. She leaned back, avoiding a pair of flaming orbs that exploded behind. Twisting on her heel, she used [Chain of Wind] to attach a mystical, windy rope to her spear and threw it, splitting a mage’s head down the middle. She slumped lifelessly against the hallway’s wall, half of her brain grossly dripping down the side of her cheek.   

Liealia yanked her weapon back, caught it, spun, and threw it again to crash into a guard using [Invisible Essence]. Her sharpened eyes were more than a match for the caliber of illusion spells her opponents used.   

As such because she was a trained warrior. If she couldn't handle this, the shame she would bring to the Nightshadow name would be unthinkable. The emblem she held in a pouch in her bra would become a liability, not a symbol of her pride.   

“[Windy Blades]!” The tip of Llamare’s weapon glowed green. A great slash caused miniature tornados to fill the cramped hallway ahead of them, causing the many bodies to get carved like livestock at a slaughterhouse. The one advantage of fighting in close quarters was that he didn't have to worry about friendly fire. His cousin was skilled enough to read the airflow of his moments and dodge accordingly. “Come on!” He turned, shouted, and ran down the long hallway. It served as one final line of defense.   

Perhaps Viridian felt that whoever made it past one of the strongest warriors Keywater had nurtured would've been exhausted enough to fall to this.   

We lucked out with Servi. How the hell were we… No, don't think like that, Llamare. 

“Cousin!!!!” Llamare looked ahead in response to Liealia’s voice. The miniature tornados had died down. But the door to their goal was right there! Looking up, Llamare slowed his pace by a fraction. His cousin rushed past him, and he turned his weapon to the ceiling.   

“Rrraaahhhh!!! [Whirlwind Implosion]!” A ball of green energy formed in his right hand. He threw it up and sliced it with his blade, causing the air to violently shake. The ceiling and the floor broke apart and cut off any chance of their enemies hastily following after them.   

Liealia kicked in the door and rolled forward, coming to a stance with that green chain wrapped around her spear’s shaft. Llamare followed, but the Earth Elf lowered his weapon slightly when entering what could only be called a pseudo-throne room.  

At the end of this room sat a golden throne, weaved of dyed unicorn hair and held together by the sought-after sap of a dryad’s tree, reinforced further by the shimmering scales of a dragon aged one thousand years in the clandestine lavenders of an underground volcano.   

A man was sitting in it. A man with a face so handsome and a jawline so defined he did not match the many statues of Parrel Biggins placed around Canary. His hair was black, partly tinted blue– a telltale sign of the Keywater imperial family.   

The man to his left was cloaked in a mask and clothed in clothes that made it hard to determine his physical properties. Likewise, the short, stubby person to the right was dressed similarly.   

“And this is it?” said the man on the throne, crossing his legs while reaching for a goblet of wine on the nearby table. “Two despicable Earth Elves are the source of this disturbance? Did the Puppet Master fail my father once more? I knew his old age had caught up with him. He could've given anyone a run for their dupla in his prime. Ah, where are my manners? Welcome to my city. I am Parrel Biggins– also known as the illusive patron. You may also know me as Viridian Keywater, eldest son of Virin Keywater, the greatest ruler the grand Keywater Empire has ever seen!”  

Llamare scoffed and shook his head, then he raised his weapon. “You're going to die tonight. I will have your head, and I will take revenge on all of those you have poisoned with those disgusting pills. Elviria shall have its justice, and I will be the one to deliver it!”  

“Elviria? That backwater country set apart by savage tribes who cannot even agree on simple matters? Yes, you can blame it on our forefathers for intentionally ruining it for centuries with manufactured hatred, but that's hardly the point now, is it? Should the country be worthy of joining the others as a world power, its inability to reconcile its differences and come together is its own fault.”  

“What the hell are you talking about?! Why did you target us?! Why did you rape our land and enslave our people?!” Llamare gritted his teeth and bared his teeth.   

“Because there are forces at work you cannot possibly imagine. There are plans in motion that were set before I was even born. I'm merely playing the role I was assigned.”  

“But why us?!” Liealia asked.  

“Did we need a reason? I am under no obligation to explain myself to you.”  

“Lord Keywater,” said the man with a slightly nasally voice. He was the same one who controlled worms and tentacles. “I believe the time for conversation is over.”  

“Yes, you're right. I am not anticipating the work needed to brush this under the bridge. By the by, how is the underground market looking? Any reports?”  

“None, my lord. But Lieutenant Fisher has been sent to take care of it. I expect a report within the hour. Now, it does slightly concern me that I do not see the undead girl amongst you. Nor do I see her summoner.”  

“Oh, you don't have to worry about her. You'll be dead before she arrives!”  

“You have failed your lord once before. Ascend the path of redemption and remove those eyesores from our sight. You'll be handsomely rewarded,” said the masked man to the necromancer, although his tone was strict and sharp.   

“Eeehhh!!!! Yesss!!! Yeeesss!!!! Master will not be maaaad!!!!” The short man hobbled and attempted to jump. But even under that disguise you could see how deformed he was. Dark green energy coalesced in his hands, forming the shape of a dagger with a skull on the pommel.   

It matched the one Servi had stolen from their previous encounter.  

“Cousin!”  

“Got it!”  

“[Whirlwind Implosion]!” Llamare threw a green ball of energy as fast as possible towards the man sitting on the throne. Liealia used [Chain of Wind] to bind her weapon to her wrist, then threw it at the orb.   

Llamare had a smirk when the explosion went off, but it died from his face when the smoke cleared to reveal a literal wall of golden tentacles. They sprouted from the ceiling and floor, forming a nearly impassable blockade from reaching their goal. Only the short man with the dagger was outside the defensive field.   

Regardless, it was clear he was being punished for his previous failure, yet he remained uninjured. 

“You've lost one catalyst. Do not dare lose this one, or I'll end your life myself. Now go, Myrokos the Necromancer—Corpse Raiser! Fight for the glory of our lord!”  

“Eeeehehehehehehe MAAAAAASTERRRRR!!!! YOUR GLORY IS MY GLORY!!!! Eeeehehehehehehe!!!!!” Myrokos used the dagger to cut away at his clothes and mask, revealing a deformed, malnourished bare naked body that couldn't have been taller than four feet. Untold thousands of scars, both old and new, littered his flesh like sand at the beach, and he gleefully carved a dozen more. The sickeningly red crimson gathered in the skull-shaped pommel. Once at capacity, the eyes glowed a deep, mystical green. 

Myrokos held the dagger to the sky. “Come to me! [Summon Undead Horde]!”  

The faux throne room was suddenly filled with nearly two hundred magic circles that shared the same hue as the skull’s eyes, the blood stored within it draining within the blink of an eye.   

The ground shook and vibrated, almost throwing Liealia to the ground, but her cousin caught her.   

One by one, hands began to breach the floor. The undead, walking abominations with rotting flesh, decayed skin, and malformed bodies, clawed up from whatever hell they were summoned for.   

“Is this all you have to offer, Myrokos? You are still holding back. Use the rest of your life to truly bring an end to our enemies. Slaughter them. Your lord demands nothing else.”  

“Kekekekekekke!!!!! ATTACK!!! ATTACK!!! DESTROY RIP TEAR! Bite asunder the living flesh!!!!! More!! More!!!! More!!!!!!!!”  

The undead horde reacted to their summoner’s command and charged, all at once, towards Llamare and his cousin. Myrokos inflicted more wounds upon his body and used the same spell again. 

---

After I rushed into the hallway past the room Albert was waiting in, I encountered more enemies, which I dispatched without a single thought. They were thrown through the walls and out the windows, split in half after being cleaved by a floating sword, and battered and bruised after I telekinetically slammed them into the ground. It was like a light show of red orbs blocking my way.   

Two guards trying and failing to dig through a bunch of rubble attempted to beg for their lives, but this goddess didn't spare any mercy. The pitiful barricade was absorbed in seconds, and I kicked open the door it blocked to find…a zombie invasion.   

Llamare and Liealia fought back to back, swinging their lavish weapons in large arcs to cleave the rotting zombies slowly advancing on them. Parts of the roof were destroyed. The wall was missing giant sections.   

“Servi!!!!” Liealia yelled, wielding a green chain around her weapon. She flung it around her body, her cousin ducking while gathering green magic in his hands, which he threw into a second approaching horde. “HIT IT! YOU MUST STRIKE IT!!!”  

Nodding, Itarr commanded two swords and cut the orb, causing an implosion of wind-like blades, which sliced and diced anything and anyone within range.   

“Kkkkheheheheheheh!!!! The girl! The UNDEATH!!! The proof of mastery beyond what we research!!!! Kkkkheheheheheheh!!!!!” A shrewd, stomach-churning voice caused me to notice a deformed, naked man with thousands of scars. He stood right in front of a writhing wall of golden tentacles…  

The bastard controlling the worms stood near a man sitting on a throne. He lifted the goblet of whine to his amused lips and chuckled. “Is that the one?” he asked, looking at the wormy bastard.   

“She's a product of [Necromancy]. That's the only explanation as to why she forever returns after death. Even from nothing, she clings to her life and soul and regenerates in record time.”  

“Interesting. Myrokos, your goal is to capture that wrench. Do so, and I may spare your life for losing one of our catalysts.” 

“Hey! A dead man shouldn't be making any promises!” I leapt in the air and remained standing on an invisible platform. Two hundred shadowy orbs appeared in front of me, causing who I assumed to be Viridian to slightly gasp. My abyssal-colored destruction wrought death upon the walking dead, clearing the room while only leaving a few handfuls to clean up.   

That fucker isn't fat? I wonder if that was a disguise? Do fat suits even exist here? Guess a prince of an empire wouldn't have trouble making one… 

Forty more shadowy arrows instantly spawned. All charged towards Myrokos, who still had a barrier! My attacks just… I knew they made contact, but they just bashed into something that wasn't there and fizzled into nothingness!  

I cursed when I landed near my allies.   

“Why the hell can't I get past it?! It doesn't make any sense!” For the hell of it, I sent another barrage at the glowing tentacles, but fuck all happened. Viridian just laughed and ordered Myrokos to finish this ‘charade.’  

“Come!! Come!!!! More!!! MORE!!!!! UNDEATH power!!! Grand my wishes!!! My mortal shell is but a resource for the powerful [Necromancy]!!! God of death!! Goddess of decay!!!! Come come come come come come!!!! KKKKHEHEHEHEHEHHEEEEHEHEH!!!!!”  

Myrokos slit his neck and held the dagger until the skull’s eyes glowed green. But then they became even brighter. And the blood inside the dagger’s pommel took on a similar, ghastly hue. “[Summon Death Knight]!” The resources stored within his weapon– catalyst– instantly drained, becoming fuel for the magic circle that appeared. It was large, about ten feet in diameter. A hulking foe broke the floor’s surface, smashing through with an arm protected by a black gauntlet. A second one breached, and I soon faced a monstrous skeleton protected by spiky armor matching the hue of its blackened eyes.   

Little red irises appeared in those sunken, abyssal eye holes, and it roared. It smashed both hands into the ground, where another set of magic circles appeared, and retrieved a zweihander and tower shield–the two wrapped in skulls and bones. It wielded both with the utmost ease.   

Just a single roar was powerful enough to rip off part of the remaining roof.   

“What kind of unholy sorcery is this?!” Liealia shouted, stabbing her spear into the ground to remain standing.   

"I've never encountered anything like it! HOW FAR WILL YOU GO?! THIS IS SACRILEGIOUS!!" Llamare's voice strained with disbelief. 

The death knight remained in front of Myrokos, who found it hard to stand from the drastic amount of blood needed to summon this thing into existence. But damn. Even his sweat was disgusting, almost like burnt grease from overcooked bacon. It was thick, fat, and smelled awful.  

“Umm… If you have any ideas on how to kill that thing, I'm all ears!” Liealia said, her voice partly shaky. Even through fear, she determinedly held her weapon with practiced hands. 

“I might have a thing or three up my sleeve. Itarr?” 

I'm sensing something strange from it. I…don't think we can absorb it as we did Albert’s golems. That which has clear life and consciousness cannot be stored within our ring.   

“But it's dead, right?”  

It is, and it isn't. I'm sorry, it's difficult to explain. It must be the nature of the [Forbidden Skill System]. Albert’s golems were different. 

“Talking to yourself won't help,” Llamare said, altering his grip on his naginata.   

“DESTROY HER!!!!! END HER MISERABLE LIFE, DEATH KNIGHT!!!” With Myrokos's command, the death knight charged like a bat out of hell, each tremendous stomp shaking the entire mansion, leaving cracks and craters behind in its wake.   

Seriously, how was this place even standing at this point?  

Liealia and Llamare leapt out of the way while I jumped up. For the hell of it, I tried to absorb the bastard but couldn't get a lock on it even after it was within range.   

“GGGGGAAAOOOORRRRRRREE!!!!!” The massive zweihander it swung at me approached with surprising hastiness. I kicked backwards with [Air Dance] to dodge, causing the attack to destroy more of the already ruined ceiling. Llamare and Liealia used this chance to damage the death knight while the attention was focused on me, but its armor was too durable. The strikes were deflected.   

I tried to stack [Telekinesis] to its limit, but my invisible grasp was broken almost immediately.   

[Shadow Shot]? Worthless. I stacked and overcharged them, but the spell was still just a low-tier skill from a starter Skill Path. The shadowy bolts even dissipated before even touching their targets. The last option left me with the enchanted weaponry because my other spells and skills wouldn't have been strong enough to do anything.   

[Flare]? It was a spell to create a massive ball of fire, but it did very little. Stacking it caused that wormy bastard to slice through them with his tentacles, preventing them from accumulating any energy. 

I used all the spells I’d come to absorb—filling the room with a litany of colorful orbs and rampaging streams of magic, but it was seriously nothing but useless bullshit. Nothing worked! 

Shit!  

The two elves and I launched ourselves around the room, with them taking potshots and glancing blows whenever they could. Dodging was a game of chance, which involved me guessing moments in advance which way to go.   

Getting it right meant I survived for a few seconds longer.   

Getting it wrong meant my body would be splattered across the remaining ceiling, smashed into a bloody paste against the back wall, or crushed like a fat, juicy bug, with my brains oozing out from my exploded head.   

Which happened a few times. Llamare and Liealia would almost always shout my name, but regenerating was getting faster. Itarr was always on top of dressing me in new clothing, and it was just mere moments before I was back in the fight.   

“Your stories are true.” I heard Viridian chat with that bastard while we fought the rampaging undead.   

“Indeed. I would not lie to you, my lord. This…’woman’ is a revenant the likes we have not seen before. It is mighty impressive.”  

“You bastards can stop talking like I'm some sort of fucking science experiment!” Itarr controlled fourteen enchanted weapons and flew them around the death knight, who roared so loudly the armaments were pushed away. Itarr quickly regrouped them and kept them hovering just a few feet ahead of me. The elves made their way to me and tiredly kneeled, heaving for air.   

For the past ten minutes, we'd done nothing but run ragged like junkyard animals.   

My companions were getting winded from this drawn-out encounter. Nothing we did seemed to even scratch the monster. There had to be a weakness!  

If absorbing it didn't work, then that left pure might.   

But we couldn't pierce the armor and deal damage.   

It canceled my attempts to lift it into the air, so I couldn’t just fling the fucker out of here like yesterday’s trash.  

And any spell that was probably powerful enough was dispelled or disrupted! Sure, I could fill the room, but Llamare and Liealia would die after they went off.  And it wasn’t any guarantee it’d be enough to kill the knight. The damage could spread to the rest of the city. 

As it were, it was undefeatable. Immortal, you could say. Perhaps there was a type of magic that was super effective against the living dead. Maybe the zombies from earlier were that weak? Pathetic enough to die without using that weakness? 

And that barrier… If I could get past it and kill Myrokos, the death knight would go away, right? He summoned it, so he was the one reason it was still here. Throughout the fight, that stumpy bastard kept cutting his flesh to fuel that undead.  The bastard with the worms kept healing Myrokos, so I couldn’t wait him out. 

You would think the solution would be to snag the dagger-- it worked before-- but every time I looked over, a golden tentacle would pierce the ground, grab the catalyst, and bring it to that bastard behind the squirming wall.  

It felt like my brain was working overtime to figure out a solution.   

And then it hit me…  

The way out of this…  

The way to win this battle…  

The answer was obvious.   

“Ha…Hahaha… Hahahahahahaha!!!  

“Ser…vi?” Liealia whispered. She didn't like my sudden laughter. “He–Hey! Focus! We aren't–”  

“Hahahaha!!!! How did I not see it before?! Myrokos, you're about to die. And I'm going to enjoy this.” I stored my weapons and stacked [Shadow Shot] a hundred times, overcharging them to the max, then immediately stashed them within my ring. “Itarr, work with Llamare and Liealia to keep that thing off my back. Trust me with this, and we'll emerge victorious.”  

“I don't exactly get it, but you'll have our assistance! Liealia, let's go!”  

“I'm right behind you, cousin!” 

I promise I can handle this! 

I did a little hop and used [Air Dance], launching like a rocket towards my primary target and speeding past the death knight. It slammed its shield to stop me, but Itarr’s flying weapons slowed it enough to let me through. It attempted to follow me, but Llamare shouted something and used a spell called [Wind Blockade] to create a windy divider between them and myself.  

A glowing, golden tentacle launched from the ground and snagged the dagger from Myrokos–just what I expected. He tossed it in the air while looking so smug. But Viridian was standing up, his goblet shattered on the floor. His eyes, wide with shock, almost couldn't understand what I had in mind.   

My refusal to slow down or halt made their faces churn with mysterious anxiousness. And it appeared my murderer figured it out all too late.  

Barriers didn't mean shit because I could absorb them. I just had to see them, and I couldn't perceive the one around Myrokos.   

But if something was surrounded by a barrier within my range, I could place something inside it. However, I couldn't control it afterwards with [Telekinesis] or some other skill. Well, I could if it was glass or some other similar material. 

If nothing could leave a barrier. And if nothing could enter a barrier…  

What would happen if, for example, someone were to unleash a dozen overly charged, volatile spells that were ready to explode at any moment inside it?  

In my eyes, the barrier’s wielder would be forced to drop it to send the spells away, or they wouldn’t react in time, leading to their explosive, gory death.   

In either case, my victory was most certainly assured. My only question was wondering which fate Myrokos would choose.  

I slammed into the necromancer’s invisible protection. We went tumbling across the floor.   

Myrokos giggled like crazy and said nothing to impede the barrier granted to him by his lord. The foolish idiot thought he was hot shit– that nothing I could do could ever bypass his seemingly impenetrable defense.  

Oh, how his expression changed nearly instantly the realization hit.  

“Checkmate, you son of a bitch!”  

“NOOOOO–” 

Boom!!!! 

The spells exploded and cut off his screams, filling the humanoid-shape barrier, which didn’t break, with gore, guts, fat, sinew, and crimson.  

I got to my feet and hopped away from his death. I looked behind and witnessed the death knight trembling. Its body and equipment turned to dust like burnt skin. It fell to its knees a breath later before dissolving into a nasty goop. The remaining piles of bone and undead flesh around us befell a similar fate.   

“So, how do you feel? Lost your necromancer, huh? Bet your owners won't be too happy about that. Now, why don't you come on down and play? I'm feeling kinda frisky,” I taunted, turning around to face my opponents. My eyes were on that pile of gore because I was waiting for Myrokos’s soul to float from his disgusting remains.   

“You think this was a loss? As I stated before, you are not aware of the powers that be. There are forces beyond your ken you cannot even hope to imagine, let alone understand with any degree of proficiency.” My murderer held out his hands. 

“That almost sounds like you're scared. Don't you think it's about time for me–” I was cut off, but not by spoken words. Myrokos's soul... Why was it green?  

They were supposed to be red. Right?  

Itarr said she didn't know why the soul was a different color.   

But the soul…didn't float towards me…   

It didn't move at all.   

“What’s this? Why does it refuse to heed my call?” My murderer saw what I was staring at, and he correctly assumed it wasn't the bloody remains. “You…can see the soul? Answer me!”  

I ignored him. Once I held my hand out, the ring started to glow, causing the soul to gravitate towards me…  

And he did not like it. Not. At. All.   

“CEASE THIS AT ONCE! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE PLAYING AT!!!”  

The soul inched towards the wall of tentacles, but I focused even harder. The ring burned brighter–hotter– it scorched my finger and started to spread a celestial conflagration up my forearms.   

But I brought the soul back closer to me.   

“WATCH OUT!!!” Llamare shouted. He ran from behind, jumped over me, and sliced an incoming tentacle I didn't see.   

“I dunno what you're doing, but he doesn't appreciate it! Leave this to us, Servi!” Liealia approached from behind and pressed her back to mine.  

“Thanks! Itarr, do whatever you can to distract that goddamn bastard! Leave the pulling to me!” 

Understood! I'll give him everything I can muster! 

Hundreds of stony pillars, midnight-colored arrows of energy, flickering flames, massive balls of explosive flames, whirling tornadoes of ice and hail, and more bombarded the wall of writhing tentacles. The brutal assault continued without hesitation, and the rate at which Llamare and his cousin sliced down the approaching wiggling appendages slowed to a crawl.   

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you bring down the wall? What's more important, the soul or that fucker’s life! GGGAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” The conflagration suddenly engulfed my torso, but I held fast while burnt flesh caked the ground. [True Immortality] kicked in and tried to offshoot the encroaching damage, but it wasn't nearly enough.  

The closer the green soul slowly floated to me, the more strain it put on my everything. Even Itarr began to scream. The pain in her whimsical chords radiated through my brain, hurting my heart. Yet she never slowed down a fraction of a second. The very second that man put down that barrier would mean he failed Keywater's emperor. 

“GGGGAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” 

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! 

Itarr and I screamed simultaneously. I clenched a fist and jerked my entire arm back towards me, causing the soul to almost tear itself from my murderer’s immaterial grasp. It sounded like something ripped in half, causing him to fall backwards. He slammed against the back wall and screamed like I’d never heard before, and that fucker with a penchant for sadistic tendencies nearly pissed his pants. The ash covering my body was replaced by flesh– the hair and eyes regrew in the snap of a finger– and new clothes made me decent.   

But Itarr’s assault halted right when the green soul touched my ring… Her voice practically vanished.   

“Itarr!!! What– What the fuck is happening to me…? I tried to step forward, but the strength in my knees failed me. Llamare shouted an order or something and ran towards the throne. In my hazy vision, he lifted his naginata and jumped high, swinging it around his body while…speaking something?  

Liealia slid into view and put both hands on my shoulder…  

“...me on!!! Sp…k to …!! Hey!!! Li…en …o…me!!!”   

It felt like something was draining me… Keeping my eyes open hurt too much, so I was just going…to close them…for a little bit…  

A…little bit… wouldn't…hurt…right…? 

---

Before I knew it, I was back in our soul world, standing near the bloody fountain with Itarr beside me. We both stared at a glowing green orb in front of us.   

After absorbing Myrokos's soul, this mysterious object made itself at home. Itarr followed it until it stopped here, and I came along very shortly.   

The situation outside?  

I didn't know what was happening, but something prevented me from returning to my body.   

“What should we do?”  

“I don't know. I…think I feel fear. Or what you previously described as fear, Servi.” Itarr’s hands trembled. She had to hold them to her stomach to stop shaking. “I cannot read what's etched into the soul. It is completely unknown to me. It…”  

“It's like it doesn't belong, right? It feels foreign and out of place. But I think we must touch it. Doesn't it seem as if something is calling out to you?”  

The goddess grabbed my arm with her soft brown fingers and looked into my eyes. “Be safe. I really don't know what's going to happen.”  

I nodded and reached a shy hand towards it, stretching just far enough to gently poke it with the tip of my index finger.   

At first, it wobbled in the air, not doing anything. But then it moved, slowly floating towards me. I reached out to touch it again, and writhing tendrils of malicious, green energy twisted into the shape of a skull with dull, glowing verdant eyes.   

And it just floated there. I reached to take it in my hands, and it didn't feel strange.  

…  

I wished that was all that happened.   

In the blink of an eye, a million faceless bodies of different colors appeared, covering the sky like a rain of arrows. They all looked towards me, and a million more hovered above the rampaging bloody sea, which rampaged out of control and slammed against the island we were on.  

The figures had no discernable features. Just crooked heads. Fifteen, larger and more defined, materialized right in front of me. And once they moved, they jerked arrogantly– like mechanical dolls, with loud, incessantly annoying clicking.   

“It is time!”  

“Time it is!”  

“Oh, how joyous! It is time for another game! Hahaha!!”  

Two million voices spoke in sync, their words a conjoined mess. 

“[Necromancy] is the starting gift this time?”  

“Oh, it appears to be! It's been fourteen attempts since we had a start like this!”  

“Come! Come! Come! Let it begin!!! Let it commence!!!”  

“What shall the results be, I wonder?”  

“Will the illusive primordial strike victory from the abyssal’s clutches?”  

“Will the destiny of our existence alter its core path?”  

“Will the destiny of your existence alter its core path?”  

“How many will fall?  

“How many will fail?”  

“How many will meet their end during this fruitless endeavor?”  

“How many will find their soul ripped from their mortal coil, only to be used as fuel?”  

“Only to be used as game pieces?”  

“Only to be used for our amusement?”  

“How many?”  

“How many?”  

“Tell us, dear primordial goddess.”  

“Tell us, o’ harbinger of the [Forbidden Skill System].”  

Itarr and I? We…were…  

We were absolutely petrified. I'd never felt fear like this in my heart before. But the faceless humanoid…things… The voices… Their words… An uneasy sense of the unknown, and the words these things spoke of… Of us being game pieces?  

“Observe. The host is afraid.”  

“Observe. The host is not of courage.”  

“Observe. The host shall not surpass the game.”  

“Observe. Let this be the end of this needless chatter.”  

One by one, the millions of figures vanished as quickly as they appeared, but just one remained. The jerky head movements increased in intensity and absurdness.   

“Come… Let this game be one for the ages, my dear mother… Let this be true. Let this be vivid. Let this be the reason why you are no longer needed…” A tremendously loud bolt of lightning lit up the night sky and highlighted the end of infinity. For the briefest, shortest second…  

The remaining entity disappeared, not cladded any longer by whatever power kept its form hidden…  

And it was so horrible…so shocking and depraved…  

That we… That we just felt like ending our lives. I felt it. Itarr felt it. We felt what the other felt, and the strangest thing was that when the bolt of lightning ravaged this soul world once more, the pure, intense fear we felt was like it was never here…  

And we were left with far more questions than answers.   

Itarr couldn't handle it. She appeared to be light-headed. I caught her in my arms and fell to the ground after dropping the skull, leaning against the fountain’s base with her close to my chest.   

“What the fuck…just happened?” I whispered to no one. “I can't wrap my head around it… Around anything…”