Tale of Eldramir

There was a loud crack that echoed through and out of the hole that Ezekiel and his companions were stuck in. A concussive blast sent him flying into the wall, while Shine was ripped out of his hands.

A thin line that had been floating vertically in the air disappeared, and the sound of a gong filled Ezekiel’s ears. It took him a moment to recover, and he held his head in pain while the ringing in his brain came to a halt. He forced himself to take several deep breaths to center himself once more.

This had been the most recent of several attempts, and the most violent reaction by far. However, whatever it was that was keeping his [Nothingness] from dispelling the effects of the [Death Magic] outside of the hole was also affecting his ability to warp [Space] outside of it as well.

“It’s still unstable... I’m pretty sure that we’re missing something. The [Space] in this place is messing with us. I can’t think of what else it could be.” He pushed himself up and walked over to Shine. “Did you manage to sense anything that time?”

The figure that appeared on Shine’s blade shook its head.

“Not this time. I’m starting to wonder if what I sensed last time was merely wishful thinking.” Shine rose into the air, floating under their own power. “Do you think that getting out of this hole will help?”

Ezekiel shook his head. “Not necessarily. It might, but it’s just as likely that we could leave if we had more information. Perhaps when either that Spirit or that skeleton return, we’ll be able to figure out a way out of here.”

It had been several hours since the supposed remnant of Headron had left. The skeleton had refused to answer any of the calls that the Void duo had made. Ezekiel was starting to think that they had actually been left alone, but the skeleton must’ve been relatively close.

Being the reason that the strange atmosphere outside the hole stayed out, it would’ve been impossible for it to have gotten too far away. Though, neither he, nor Shine, were aware of what dangers might be present, so for now he felt it best not to make any more of a ruckus than they already had.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get out of here soon. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in close proximity to your father when he wakes up.” Shine shifted in the air; the face of their blade now turned toward Warren’s slumbering body. “No offense, but neither of us can tell what happened to him. It seems like a bit much to expect that he would be in his right mind after being corrupted for ten years.”

While he didn’t want to admit it, Ezekiel knew that Shine’s concerns weren’t wrong. The fact of the matter was that his father wasn’t in a good state, even if he had clearly recovered, at least a little bit, from being corrupted by the Radiant Chaos.

Although, the fact that he was still stuck in the strange hybrid form that was half man, half lion Spirit, was very disconcerting. However, since none of the other [Blessed] beings had reverted, instead dissolving into mana and blood, he figured that that should’ve been expected.

“Hopefully, when he wakes up, he won’t be in a mindless rage. His soul seems to have settled down but given that we don’t know how it was done, we need to be ready for anything.” Brushing off his pants, he moved to the center of the hole and held his hands out once more. “Shall we try again?”

Shine floated over to him, hovering vertically in front of his hands. Mana slowly formed between them, a thin line taking shape. Usually this would be unnecessary, but something was actively fighting against their attempts to create a rift that would take them out of here.

They didn’t plan on going through it right away, not before they could figure out how to sense a coordinate that wasn’t the inside of the Radiant Chaos’ seal, but they knew that they needed to actually be able to open a way out before that even became relevant.

Slowly, the line extended until it was about three feet long. A full foot shorter than the one they had made before, and were forced to come to a halt, since the mana they were channeling was beginning to fluctuate. If they went much further, the line would collapse, just like it had the last time.

“That’s barely big enough for you to get through. Let alone your father.” Shine’s proclamation made Ezekiel narrow his eyes. His face twisted into a frustrated scowl.

“We’ll work our way up,’ he muttered before returning to the task at hand. “Okay... Now pull!”

Turning his hands to grasp at the line of mana, Ezekiel began to walk backwards, just as Shine was moving in the opposite direction. The two pulled the mana apart, and the simple line began to spread, forming a black [Void] that slowly spread between them.

“Slowly... Gentle... We can’t let the mana escape our grasp...” Ezekiel was muttering more to himself at this point, since he didn’t want this blowing up in his face again.

Unfortunately, it seemed that such a fate was inescapable. One the rift had reached a foot wide, the mana seemed to snap, and the rift pulled itself shut in an instant.

A brief flash of light filled his vision, and for a moment he felt the world turn into a chilling tundra, with a flow of energy that washed over him like a rushing river. Then it disappeared.

Something pulled him forward by a few feet, only for a blast to send him flying into the wall once more. Far harder than the last one had. The sound was also louder.

If he hadn’t reflexively [Reinforced] his body, he would’ve certainly broken something. For the moment, he simply dented the wall, leaving an imprint of himself, before rolling out of it and falling to the ground with a pained grunt.

This time, he simply laid there and let himself recover slowly, rather than focus on getting up as soon as possible. It took several minutes before the world stopped spinning in his vision.

“That didn’t work... but I think I know at least one thing that’s wrong...” he groaned as he flipped onto his stomach from where he’d landed on his back.

His thoughts were filled with the sense of a familiar feeling, one that he had felt hundreds of times in the past, that had terrifying implications if true.

“What might that be?” Shine yanked themself out of the other wall and floated over to Ezekiel. “I know that I sensed a massive amount of mana. More energy than even that bastard Radiant Chaos, but it was so sudden and so brief that I couldn’t see much else.”

Ezekiel shook his head, “Not just that... To be honest, my idea is ridiculous, but given what we know, and how Eldramir was once much more powerful than Tier seven, at least Tier eight, at its prime, I think my idea is possible. However, it means that things will be significantly more difficult than expected.”

Shine stayed quiet, which Ezekiel was thankful for, since he wanted to go over everything a few more times, just in case there was something he was missing.

“I think we need to speak to that Spirit and skeleton again. There’s a question I need to ask, and if it isn’t answered, I don’t think we’ll be able to get out of here.” He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it for the moment. “For now, let’s just meditate. We know what we need to do to make that last breakthrough. We might as well start doing some testing.”

The curiosity coming from Shine was almost smothering, but Ezekiel didn’t want to talk about his guess right now. It was almost too terrifying to imagine, and he knew that, unless they could get out of the hole, he wouldn’t be able to confirm it without speaking to the skeleton.

Unfortunately, it seemed like he would have other things to worry about, since there was a rustling sound coming from behind him, and only one thing in the hold that could be making it.

“Dammit...” he slowly turned around, seeing his father’s mutated form slowly shifting.

Warren’s eyes were fluttering open and closed, seemingly only barely capable of maintaining consciousness. But still enough that he was able to move.

“Do you think we can knock him out again?” Shine asked while hovering next to Ezekiel.

He shook his head in response, “No. I don’t think that would work. For now, I want to see how he’s doing. If he can still talk, or if his mind shattered under the forces that it went through over the past decade or so.”

A sense of hope that had only recently been sparked began to bloom in his soul. He had given up on his father years ago. Assuming that he had been lost. So, to have the possibility of getting him back be presented to him, he knew he needed to grasp it and hold on for as long as he could.

Climbing to his feet, Warren stood up while resting a hand on the wall beside him. He held his head in the other hand, and his face scrunched up in pain. An angry snarl escaped his lips.

Though it was only slightly, Ezekiel was getting a similar feeling to when his mother fused with Reya. Only, what had happened to her was to a far lesser extent than this.

“Dad... do you understand me?” He started moving while talking. Practically hugging the wall while he and Shine moved along to keep some distance from his father. “If you can’t talk, can you at least raise your hand? You can hold onto the wall, but I need to know if you know what I’m saying.”

Warren ignored Ezekiel, and simply stumbled along the wall, holding himself up with one hand, and holding his head with the other. Chuffs and growls escaped his mouth, and it was obvious that he was focusing on something specific, but seemed to be struggling as he grew more agitated.

His tail whipped about, and his claws extended and retracted, digging into the wall and creating gouges that made a scraping sound that caused Ezekiel to flinch from the noise.

All the while, he continued to try and walk, and struggle with something only he could see or feel.

“Dad?” Ezekiel raised his voice to be heard more clearly. Intent on grabbing his father’s attention.

This time, Warren whipped his head around, and the moment he laid eyes on Ezekiel, he let loose a roar that was both angry, but to Ezekiel’s ears, sounded like he was in pain.

He couldn’t spare a moment to think about it, however, since Warren launched himself at Ezekiel in a flash, and if it wasn’t for his expectation that something like this would happen, he likely would’ve been slammed into the wall.

Much like his father had when he failed to land properly. Flailing in the air as he found himself unable to control his body.

Having ducked underneath his father’s flying form, Ezekiel stuck to the other side of the hole. With distance between them once more, Ezekiel tried to reason with Warren again.

“Dad! It’s me! It’s Ezekiel! Your son! Do you remember me? Can you understand what I’m saying?” He felt like he was talking to a wall. An angry, snarling, rage filled wall that was also trying to kill him, but failing because there was no sense of control.

This time, however, Warren ignored Ezekiel yet again. Holding his head in pain and curling up into a ball. Pained whimpers and terrified snarls mixed together as his muscles spasmed and shook.

“I don’t think he gets it. But I don’t think he’s targeting you, specifically.” Shine floated next to Ezekiel once more. “I think he’s hurt, mad, and scared. So, he’s just lashing out at anything that’s grabbed his attention. You won’t be able to get any answers when he’s like this though.”

As much as he didn’t like it, Ezekiel knew that Shine was right. He needed his father to recover more, and to find out why he was in so much pain. Though, he couldn't imagine that being in a body that had been warped as much as Warren's could be comfortable.

“We might have to do a soul dive,” he muttered to his Spirit. “It’s probably the only way we’ll be able to talk to them properly. This body of theirs... It's too warped, too different, for either my father or Theo to have any sort of control over. Especially since I think they might be subconsciously fighting for control. The only regular presence they’ve felt in their souls for the past decade was Radiant Chaos. They could be fighting each other, thinking that the other is the enemy.”

A wave of horror and despair filled Ezekiel, all of it came from Shine, who, as a Spirit, couldn’t even imagine actively trying to kill their soul bonded partner like that.

“...What do you need me to do?” they asked while channeling their mana in preparation.

“Pin him down, and make sure he doesn’t move while I go in. My soul is stronger than theirs, and since it’s not filled with Radiant mana, they should, hopefully, understand that I’m not Radiant Chaos.”

It was a risky idea, but no more so than it had been when they had done this to Riley. The only difference being that it was at a much higher level, and much more concentrated corruption.

He could feel the disapproval from Shine, but they stayed silent, and simply moved to exert force on Warren’s body. A moment later, the struggling mutated form of Ezekiel’s father was sprawled out and pinned face down on the ground.

Without any delay, Ezekiel leapt forward, landing on his father’s struggling back, just below the large body’s shoulders, before placing his glowing hands on the sides of his father’s head.

They both slumped forward a second later. Eyes closed and cut off from the world around them.

----------

If, before, Ezekiel had sensed the souls and mana of his father and Theo intermingling and seemingly mixing together, now he could sense that the two [Wills] were not doing so gently.

What was actually happening was his father and Theo were subconsciously fighting each other. Their mana wasn’t mixing, it was biting, tearing, and devouring each other. Each wound that formed was healed by each wound they inflicted on one another.

This isn’t good, he muttered before bracing himself as a particularly vicious beam of mana, filled with the intent to [Burn] him away, nearly shot him. He barely raised a barrier in time to deflect it.

Sorry dad, Theo, but I don’t think I can be gentle with this. Tensing up, he focused his [Will] inward, while focusing his [Understandings] of [Nothingness], [Force], and [Enhancement].

His soul curled up into a ball, a sphere of energy protecting him from turbulence within the mixed boundary between Warren and Theo’s souls.

Enough!

With an emotion fuel roar, Ezekiel threw his arms and legs out, [Nothingness] directed by his [Will] to only stop, not destroy or erase, the mana that surrounded him exploded outward in all directions.

His call sent echoes reverberating through the pathways of the twisted souls that he was trying to separate. It was a slow and painful process, but the chaos that was forcing the two souls to rip each other apart came to a halt.

Within moments, the boundary between Theo and Warren strengthened, in part due to Ezekiel’s efforts, and two distinct souls were now on either side of him.

At the same time, that familiar feeling overcame him as he saw what could only be the various spiritual pathways that spread out into their respective souls. Even no, away from the pathways, for the most part, Ezekiel could feel how they were twisted and tied together. It would take a lot of work to untangle them. If such a thing was even possible.

Can you hear me? If you can, please manifest yourselves. We need to talk.

Ezekiel remained silent after saying this. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but he was honestly just thankful that his strength was enough to make the two other Mythics stop.

Getting them to talk to him was just a bonus at this point.

Ezekiel? A quiet voice that he barely remembered filled Ezekiel’s mind. As did another voice. One that he didn’t recognize, but his instincts told him that neither meant harm, so it could only be Theo.

Dad, Theo. I’m here. You need to stop fighting. The Radiant Chaos isn’t here. He’s gone. It’s only you two, and me. He could sense fear and apprehension in the minds that he was barely interacting with.

Theo’s seemed to recoil, but Warren’s didn’t. Instead, it was filled with fear and anger.

No! You won’t fool me again! You won’t! Warren’s cries caused the seas of mana to start surging up once more, and Theo’s mana responded in kind.

Radiant Chaos cannot do this! Ezekiel yelled once more, and the [Void] filled the spiritual realm that he was now inhabiting.

The unfamiliar sense of [Nothingness] caught Warren and Theo off guard, but Ezekiel knew that this was a distinctly different sensation from anything that either of them had felt before. It was something that was unique to Ezekiel. Not even the Void Mages he had previously trained were able to bring forth mana of this quality, with this level of control and [Understanding].

Yet, even so, Ezekiel could sense apprehension from both of the souls he was communing with.

With a sigh, Ezekiel did something he knew would prove his point. He opened his own mind and soul to his father and Theo, and the two, relatively, weaker souls were forcibly shown his memories.

Flashes of the events that had happened over the past ten years filled the two Radiant users’ minds. Sorrow, joy, hatred, and everything in between was experienced by the two souls in front of Ezekiel. Their forms slowly solidified as they were brought out of the madness they had been forced into by the Radiant Chaos.

Ezekiel... son... Warren tearfully whispered as the avatar of his soul fully formed. He stepped forward in the soul space, and for the first time in over a decade, Ezekiel felt his father’s embrace once more, and beside him, he felt Theo nuzzle his side. The large lion’s mane tickled his side.

However, as much as he wanted to stay, and continue talking with his father, he knew he shouldn’t linger for much longer. The power he had used was putting unnecessary strain on his father and Theo’s souls. They would be able to talk more later.

Dad... I can’t stay for much longer. If I do, your soul will start to suffer from the strain of housing me. If it wasn’t for how strong your soul is, this wouldn’t be possible. Anything less than Mythic would basically explode from housing my soul like this.

Warren opened his mouth to stop him, but Ezekiel pushed forward.

Stop! You need to know; Radiant Chaos is gone! Your soul, and Theo’s, are free. I can’t tell you how it happened. Only that a Mythical Death Mage somehow made it work. The soul you sense, that isn’t mine; that’s your partner! Remember the bond you both share. Project your memories. Do not try to take, try to give, and you will know that I am right.

He could sense that, even though their souls had both taken shape outside of their mana, Warren and Theo were both concerned. Which he could understand, but they needed to do this.

I’ll be here. I’ll save you if anything goes wrong.

A part of Ezekiel broke at the helpless and begging expression on his father’s face. The man he had looked up to for the longest time was still crying in his arms. It hurt a lot, and he could tell that the aching in his chest wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.

Without a word, Warren tried to stand strong as he chose to take the first step.

Theo did the same, and Ezekiel could feel a connection that had been closed open up in front of him. The bond between Warren and Theo was flowing once more, and their mana no longer fought.

Oh, Ancients, what did I do? Upon realizing that they had been trying to kill each other, Warren and Theo both broke into tears once more. Warren buried his face in Theo’s mane, while the feline Spirit let out yowls and cries of his own.

However, Ezekiel wasn’t able to linger any longer.

A sense of urgency tugged at Ezekiel’s mind. Something had happened outside, and Shine needed him to return right now.

Dad, I need to go, and you need to focus on healing, and separating yourself from Theo. Right now, your body is in a mess, so I would suggest you remain in meditation for as long as possible. I promise I’ll be back, but I don’t want to hurt you by staying here for too long.

He made sure not to mention what was happening outside. Along with stopping his father from saying anything that might have kept him here.

Giving his father one last smile, filled with tears of happiness, Ezekiel felt his figure fade away, even as he saw his father and Theo hold each other tighter for comfort.

A moment later, his vision turned black before he awoke in his body once more.

The sound of angry buzzing filled his ears, while shadows flickered overhead.

----------

Deep within the depth of his soul Warren looked at the place where his son had just disappeared. He knew, deep within himself, that he hadn’t just been left behind. That his suffering at the hands of the Brood, Radiant Chaos, wasn’t going to return anytime soon.

The memories that his son had given him had pulled him back. However, that didn’t mean that all was well. It was impossible to recover that easily from an ordeal that long and harsh.

He silently turned to the large lion now lying next to him.

I’m sorry for everything that’s happened this past decade... I should’ve been stronger... Kneeling, he wrapped his arms around Theo’s shoulders. We need to fix this... do you have any ideas?

Turning to the sea of mana that was split between them Warren cautiously spread out his senses. Only to wince in pain and take a moment to calm himself again as the sensations from his body nearly pulled him from his mental plane.

For now, I would suggest following the cubs advice, and not returning to consciousness anytime soon. Theo gently nipped Warren’s leg. Let’s start slow. First, we need to deal with the emotional baggage. Both of us are still stuttering with our bond. We need to open it freely.

And then what? Our bodies are fused well beyond that of a normal Hunter and Spirit. I don’t think our souls will be able to properly separate either. They are far too tied together now. Warren reached out with his mind, internally this time, to get a feel for the twisted mess that was his spiritual pathways.

They were like a messy braid that was intermingled with Theos. Usually, it was just a simple singular pathway that formed the bond between Hunter and Spirit. This was far more complex.

... If it is necessary, only one of us will return... Theo’s grim words pulled Warren back to the present, and he gaped at his Spirit in horror.

More so because he could tell that a small part of him was not opposed to this. At least it was, before he centered himself again. Then a burning anger welled up in him at what his Spirit was implying.

...That will be a last resort, and I will not hear more of it until every other avenue is tested first.

Theo merely nodded his head, and Warren was incredibly thankful.

He had just gotten back, both to his son, and to his Spirit. As far as he was concerned, this time, he would truly die before he lost either one of them again.