After Ben sat down the old man spoke once more.
[We have some time before the council is ready for you, so while we wait I suppose we should have a chat, I do apologise greatly, everything’s moving rather fast so it’s probably confusing for you]
The old man flashed a kind but apologetic smile towards him, Ben answered in kind “Don’t worry about it, it’s confusing, yeah, but I’m usually quick to catch on” with a polite smile Ben extends his hand for a handshake and as the old man grips his hand Ben introduces himself “I’m sure you already know but my names Ben, nice to meet you!” After a brief pause, he continues “excuse me for asking but... are you really Merlin? The one from the legends?”
[Legends?... Hahaha!]
The old man suddenly bursts in a fit of spirited laughter after a moment of silence, leaving Ben in a state of awkward confusion “Did I say something wrong?” Ben asks with a hint of concern.
The old man finally calms down from his laughing fit and starts to explain himself.
[Ha, sorry about that, I completely forgot about that guy so I couldn’t help the laugh... but no I’m not THAT Merlin, but at the same time I am… you see that guy was just a small experiment I was conducting, I was observing the Earth, searching for a certain substance, but I wasted all those years for nothing!]
“Wait! Your saying Merlin was actually real!?” Ben couldn’t believe what he was hearing, how could this simple looking old man be someone who only existed in myths?
[Yeah, he was real, just a simple copy of me, but you, you are the best result I’ve ever seen in all my years of experimentation, and to think it was my students who caught you, haha well… anyway! Getting off track, I’ll start answering your questions, I really should control my rambling!]
Merlin knocks himself on the head with his fist after reprimanding himself, before continuing.
[First, this place you are in is what we call the ‘Index’, all the souls of all monitored worlds are siphoned and then collected and sorted through the index, if a soul is deemed worthy they are then given the chance of being reborn, if they are not worthy, they are then processed and turned into a form of energy, which we then use to fuel this entire system. Don’t worry you are indeed worthy, just by the fact you are sitting here with me is enough proof of that.]
After hearing the brief explanation, an indescribable amount of excitement rushed through his body, but there was one thing he couldn’t shake from his mind.
“What do you mean that I’m ‘the best result’” Ben asked with a perplexed look on his face,
[Ah! I really did say too much didn’t I?] Merlin slaps his forehead at his own carelessness [Well you’ll find out sooner or later so may as well tell you now since I’m the one who caused all this]
“Wait! you’re the one who made me suffer for 8 months in that god forsaken state?!” Ben slammed his hands down on the table in anger and glared at Merlin, it was only natural to be aggressive towards the one who made him suffer for all that time.
[What are you talking about? Even in the most extreme cases the time should only be slowed down for just under a month, even with my power I can’t slow time for any longer than 27 days, it’s impossible for it to last that long... wait... how long did it take for you to wake up?]
“Wake up? the moment I died everything went black but I was still conscious, I just couldn’t open my eyes, but I could still move freely” Ben started to calm down slightly once he realised even Merlin himself was confused about the situation.
Merlin eyes immediately popped open in shock when Ben finished speaking, with a snap of his fingers the green haired student from before appeared out of thin air and they began to converse using that strange language, once they finished speaking Merlin’s breathing started to become erratic, with another snap of his fingers the woman disappeared once more and Merlin jumped up from his seat and ran towards Ben, looking at him with the eyes of an excited beast.
[You’re Perfect! Hahaha!]
After a period of manic laughter Merlin sat back down and calmed himself, he then spoke.
[Hah, I never imagined I would find someone with a ‘Void Core’ within my lifetime]
“Void Core?” Ben tilted his head slightly at the term, clueless as to what Merlin meant.
[Right, a Void Core, you are from earth so it’s natural you wouldn’t know - I’ll have start from the beginning] Merlin adjusted his robe and cleared his throat before continuing.
[With the exception of earth and very few other inhabited planets, every world, galaxy, and universe is filled with a substance known by many names, most commonly referred to as Void or Vapour. This substance is what I subjected you to earlier, or rather a by-product of it; I believe what earth refers to it as is ‘Dark-Energy’? it is practically everywhere but remains invisible to everyone including me and all other civilisations, it is a limitless source of energy that almost everyone can use, but no one has yet to witness its actual form, we just simply have the ability to absorb its energy and use it to create other substances such as fire, and water. There are near endless applications and uses for it, and one who wields such power are known as Void Gazer’s. For one to be able to absorb the void’s energy and collect it within themselves, they require a sufficiently strong soul, while all living beings have a soul there is a large percentage of them that can’t use the void’s energy simply because there soul is not strong enough and it would kill them if they were to attempt to use it, Do you understand everything so far?]
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“It’s a bit much to take in, but yes, and I assume i am able to absorb it because of the little test you did in that white room? I do have some questions though, why did your students start suffocating, but I felt energised? and what type of substance was that white cloud? Was it some sort of healing element like water?” Ben was becoming rather excited after hearing about the void, “if this is all real then maybe I can harness this ‘Void Energy’!” This thought made his whole-body flush with excitement, all those years of watching fantasy movies and reading stories, maybe he could finally get a taste of magic for himself!
[Very good, yes you are able to absorb the void energy and you are incredibly efficient, since you’ve never been exposed to the energy before your body has naturally become like a dried up sponge so it will happily absorb the energy much faster than the average person. To answer your question, yes, it was a water element, it’s quite impressive you could recognise it despite never seeing it before] Merlin gave a nod of approval before continuing his explanation.
[The reason my students were effected is because they are still in training, so when they were surrounded by such a large amount of energy it caused them to become overwhelmed, as they are natural born spirits one of their main ways to absorb the void is through breathing and if it is too concentrated it is similar to being drowned. More importantly, I am quite surprised it did not have any adverse effects on you.]
“Ah, I guess that makes sense” a grin appeared on Bens face when his mind began to wander, exploring ways he could have fun with these powers in the future.
[Ok, carrying on… a soul can be likened to that of a conductor, the better the conductor, the better it is at absorbing and transferring energy within one’s body, if the conductor isn’t strong enough to harness the energy then it will disintegrate as a result, also destroying the person in the process. There are those with naturally strong souls that possess incredible strength, but ultimately they all possess a flaw of some kind, whether it is being unable to convert void energy into certain elements, or forcing them to focus on simply one element or school of study, but you, you possess a Void Core, a perfect soul compressed to the absolute limit, in other words, it possess no flaws, not only does this allow you to use any element you wish as long as you practice enough but it also allows you to harness almost unlimited amounts of void energy within you.]
Merlin briefly stopped his explanation and looked at Ben to make sure he was still paying attention, seeing him staring back with an excited and curious gaze, Merlin Smiled “with such a curious nature this boy could go far” Merlin had never evaluated someone so highly before, he could see a bright future ahead of this young earthling. After his assessment he continued with the explanation.
[Souls are similar to a water bucket, once full, no more energy can be put inside unless some energy is expended, but your perfect soul is more like an bottomless well, never full and always wanting more, and it is still only in its juvenile state, as you raise it to become stronger it will allow you to perform more and more astonishing feats... although that doesn’t mean you will be able to, you may possess a perfect soul but learning to use it to its full potential is another thing entirely, unless you possess sufficient talent you will never attain much strength]
As Ben was still trying to digest all of this information, a light sound rang through the room, looking to his right Ben saw an enormous door fade into existence, appearing out of nowhere, it stood 30 meters tall and had carvings covering its entire surface depicting a large scale battle between two races unknown to him, and in the very centre stood a large image of an orb, one half was pure black, while the other was a glistening white, while simple in design the orb seemed to exude an aura, possessing a rather domineering presence, making most people feel some form of oppression, but to Ben It felt comfortable to look at.
[Looks like those guys are ready for you, I won’t be able to come in with you but just keep your cool and you’ll be fine!]
After giving Ben a firm pat on the shoulder Merlin said his goodbyes and once again waved his arm and vanished into the mysterious crack. “Why does it seems like he’s running away?” a sudden thought flashed through Bens mind, but he dismissed it almost immediately.