[Lucian, can you hear me?] The voice I remember from my dream asked me. How was I supposed to respond?

[We are connected with a mind link, so anything you think of, I can hear if you choose to share it. Imagine you are speaking like you do with Selene, but without sending it onto the ambient mana.]

“Like this?” It was jarring to stop the now muscle memory of speaking like this when I don’t think of the ambient mana side of it, and instead have to make sure I’m NOT using it to speak.

[Perfect. Okay, a little explanation is in order and then you can ask your questions. One, our mind link is open as long as you are fueling mana into the connection reservoir in your mana channels, if you wish to cancel it for any reason, all you need to do is stop supplying mana to it.]

“That sounds simple enough” and I could feel the mana drain was minimal as well. My mana capacity was above a Tier 1 Mage in terms of purity. I may not have the actual capacity of one, but the purity allows me to use magic with a higher efficiency than the standard Tier 1 Mage.

[That said, where do you wish to begin? My knowledge is limited, but I am happy to answer anything I can for you.]

“I know the Lady of the Abyss left the power inside of my body to help me, but why? I know she was taking pity on me, but with no explanation? Even now I am unsure if this power is here to help me or a trap left by her. I want to believe in her since she sent me here, but that makes no sense to me.”

One of the biggest questions I have wanted to ask but nobody besides me had known about my previous life until now.

[I can not pretend to understand her intentions, only what I have known of her after serving her for countless years. She does not do anything without a good reason, and the power she has left is an honest gift that even the Divine would fight over.]

“You mentioned forming a mind link, which I would then assume you are a living being of a kind? Who or what are you?” I know it was rude to ask someone this, but a mysterious being and potentially dangerous power inside my body was something I needed to understand.

[Cautious and observant, just as I saw you be in your life as Callum. The names in the Abyss are different from human standards, mine being Eclipse of the Fallen. You can call me Eclipse for short. Explaining the complexities of how the Abyss works will take a lot longer than we have, so just think of me as a direct servant to the Lady of the Abyss and her alone, and I am here to help and guide you in adjusting to her gift.]

“Can you tell me what the gift is, and what the Lady of the Abyss expects from me?”

[The gift is… Hard to explain in a way that would make any sense to you. You can think of it as an inheritance of sorts that was given to you. Know that the decision to give this to you was not made lightly, and it is because the Lady believes you are capable of properly acquiring it. It won’t be easy, but you will recognize the value of the gift one day.] Eclipse said, almost trying to hide how important it is.

“And the cost of accepting this power?” There is something off about this, and I don’t understand what it is. It’s too… convenient.

[...]

“You have to realize that this power sounded too good to be true, right Eclipse? Sure, the power can help me and that’s great, but I am not foolish enough to believe something like this will be free. I was used as a chess piece by the Divine before, and it feels like I am once again, just under a new Divine”.

[The Lady is not like the other Divine. She has fought against the other Divine for years, and even saved you, Lucian! Surely that deserves a little trust in her gift for you?]

“I want to believe that she helped me out of good will. The fact remains however, that I was used by the Divine my entire life. The Lady of the Abyss being different and more mysterious than the Divine I served only makes it harder to trust. You’re asking me to trust her, so you have to trust me as well”.

[Lucian, I can’-]

“TELL ME THE COST. The gift is only sounding more suspicious and now I am tempted to discard it as the Lady said I could. I can feel that if I want it, the power can be destroyed. Tell me the cost, or I will discard the gift and take my chances” and I meant it too. A power I don’t know the price to use is just a bad thing waiting to happen.

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[Lucian, I understand that you are weary of the gift. I can not tell you what it costs to use, because only the Lady knows. This is not the Lady doing a favor to protect you one time type of thing… She is GIVING you part of her power. It will be yours, and yours alone. It goes beyond what you had as Blessings from the other Divine, she is making you her Chosen.]

“I am being given the power of a Divine?! Why? What would that make me? What is a Chosen?” Questions flooded my mind at this revelation by Eclipse.

[Nobody knows. The Lady of the Abyss might, but I was not privy to the information if that is the case. There’s no written evidence of it ever having been done. The Divine are very careful about their powers, and the Blessing is a miniscule effort from them for more amusement– I’m sorry Lucian, I know that their game is the suffering of humankind in your old life. That was insensitive of me to mention.]

“It’s fine. I made my peace with the fact of the matter in my last life. There is nothing I can do about it now”.

All this new information is a lot to take in at once, I finally have the chance to ask the questions I’ve wanted to know the answer to… My entire life as Lucian?

“What is the plan, Eclipse? Was the Lady forthcoming with you enough to explain to me how this process worked?”

[The only thing she told me to watch for was a way of integrating the gift with your powers in this world. I am going to connect the abyssal power to your mana core during the core formation, which I expect to absorb most if not all of the conflict of the process, if you’re properly protecting your body that is. Since it is a Divine’s power, I am going to form 9 Abyssal Seals on it, and each one can be unlocked when you are of the appropriate tier of mana core to adjust to the power gradually.]

“I would like to inform Selene about all of this, Eclipse. You might have reservations, but she ha-”

[You are welcome to tell her any of this, Lucian. While you were unconscious, she was prepared to destroy the Fae Realm for harming you. She obviously cares deeply about you, and is even taking on a huge risk in forming the Equals Contract with you from the way it sounds. It likely will result in a complete hostility from other mana beasts in the future for the both of you. You can trust her for now at least.]

I thought Eclipse would have wanted me to keep this all quiet, to prevent the spread of information about The Lady of the Abyss, or her.

[Are you going to tell her about your life as Callum?]

… That was the question I was dreading. I don’t know.

“I don’t know, Eclipse… Part of me knows I should, the other desperately wants to forget my life as Callum and only be Lucian… I know that it is wrong, and selfish, but I can’t tell her at this moment at least. Lots of mixed feelings and all”.

[I understand, Lucian. My only advice about this will be to know that you can try to forget your life as Callum, but your soul originated from that life… It will not be easy nor really possible to completely scrub Callum from yourself.] She says to me, knowing the conversation is at the end.

“I know, and thank you for telling me everything. I am going to go back to meditating, and trying to heal my body quicker, and I will talk with Selene about everything we discussed. Goodbye for now, Eclipse” and I shut off the connection. The mind link faded soon after, and I was alone again.

The power of a Divine… Is this something I want? Will it turn me into some kind of Human-Divine hybrid? It hasn’t been made known to non-Divine what happens at the least, and is that to protect against potential mobs of humans trying to steal the powers of the Divine?

Will I become the thing I grew to hate after finding out the truth as Callum?...

I should try contacting Selene once more, see if the meditations have helped. Anticipating the thunderbolt, I sent a message to Selene, “Selene. Can we talk when you have a moment?” and to my surprise there was no shocking pain inside of my head.

“Of course, Lucian. I will be there in a bit, taking care of the final pieces of the compensation for your suffering from these oh so noble Fae Lords”.

“Compensation?” I asked.

“Oh yes. You did not think I would let them off with just a little destruction after assassinating the human I declared to be my partner? Wait a little longer, and I will be there right after”.

“Okay, Selene. Stay safe”.

“You too, little one” She said and the messages stopped. I sighed and got to work on meditating again, slowly regaining the flexibility and control of my mana channels once more. Testing my magical casting, I performed my elemental mana flame trick and saw all four colors like they were before flowing off my fingers.

Everything seems normal, albeit still a little sluggish. There was not much I could do about my body’s recovery besides fueling it with mana, yet even that took time.

Nothing to do but wait it out. Selene might actually finish the assassin’s job if she finds out I tried my training method in the hospital. Speak of the mana beast, there she is! A small portal appeared above my bed and Selene moved through it to be sitting on the edge of my bed, back in her normal cat form.

“It is good to see that you are well, Lucian” She said to me, looking less worried now than she did before.

“I’ll be back to normal in no time, Selene. I heard that you had a little bit of fun without me?”

“The Fae Lords might not see it that way, but yes, it was a good stress reliever if nothing else. What did you wish to speak to me about?”

“This is going to sound crazy, Selene, but listen to what happened while you were gone” and I explained the conversation with Eclipse the best I could, mentioning the hazy dreams and recalling the meeting with the mysterious Lady of the Abyss a long time ago, but did not recall it happening until now.

Selene listened to the entire story, and seemed a little suspicious of some of the details, such as the risks of not knowing the price of said power, and she seemed to have an idea of what the Divine were, which did not bode well. That was a question for another time, because too many questions would look too suspicious currently.

“What is your opinion on all of it, Lucian? Ultimately, it is your decision to make” she asked.

“I was cautious of it at first, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If this Lady of the Abyss wished me harm, why give me the power in the first place? I have never felt that it would harm me, it was hard to explain because it was purely my gut feeling. I’m willing to take the risk, especially when it means you won’t have to harm yourself to keep me alive”.

“If this works, do you still wish to form the Equals Contract with me, little one? I am willing regardless to make the journey with you. If you have second thoughts, or do not wish to draw the risk of mana beasts on you I understand and will still help you” she asked once more.

“It would be my greatest honor to form the bond with you, Selene! I was worried that you would decide to leave if it was no longer necessary for my survival, and did not want to force you to stay” I told her confidently.

“Then when you are fully recovered, we shall from the Equals Contract in the magic insulation room the Fae Lords were… Motivated to allow us the use of”.