CHAPTER 24.

I woke up in total darkness and I looked around, trying to find a sliver of light in what I assumed was my new prison.

But, filled with slowly dawning horror, I discovered that I was unable to move my head. Further experimentation also confirmed that while I could feel the rest of my body, I had no control over it.

For a while, panic overwhelmed me and I tried to scream with a voice box I had no control over.

But I remembered the strange dream I had shortly before coming to Zomyr and calmed down.

This must be another body snatching like the last time, maybe if I tried talking to him; the mysterious “Realm Killer,” I'll be able to find myself out of here sooner rather than later.

But before I could politely ask the body thief to return my body. He spoke using my mouth in an angry voice.

"Do not say a word, I tire of your bumbling, your incompetence."

"Armed with the most powerful tools available, yet you still falter along your path."

Then he stood up and immediately thousands of red glowing eyes immediately popped out in the darkness. I remembered those eyes and the formless dark bodies they were attached to in another dream."

Voidspawn!!

Fear rushed through me as I recalled my phantom death at their hands and I began to struggle frantically to regain control of my body and somehow flee this place.

It became glaringly obvious that I was no match for the being inhabiting my body, all my attempts to wrest control were simply ignored.

Just when I thought they were about to attack us, I felt a great pressure that spread across the entire room, it was as the soul of my body snatcher had expanded to accommodate the entire space.

The voidspawn, immediately pulled back as if afraid of this force, until their glowing red eyes vanished in the distance.

I felt awe at the power this being could command; I suppressed all my negative thoughts regarding his person, I had no interest in being smithed.

Politely I asked him to tell me his name, and why and how he was inhabiting my body.

"We have no time for pleasantries, this is not a social call," he answered brusquely.

What an asshole, I thought to myself, swiftly forgetting my previous fear, and promise to behave, but I was also curious about his visit. If he was real, he would be the only supernatural entity I had encountered before coming to Zomyr. This idea made me uncomfortable as it hinted at a bit of predestination wrapped up in the events after his previous visitation.

I wonder what this visitation may portend for me, so far nothing good as far as I could tell.

He moved confidently through the void, how I knew he was moving was beyond me. Clearly unbothered by the dangers of this terrifying place, he began speaking.

"To answer your question of how, The Realm is the bridge between me and you, we are simply using it to circumvent the restrictions of the law-bound. There is much you must understand if you're not only to survive but thrive."

From infinite nothing, we stepped into a prison cell, it looked rank and disgusting, and the smell would have made me hurl if I had control of my body.

There was a body at the end of the room, bleeding and broken and I was afraid to encounter another "Link" in this dismal place.

"Why, have you brought me here?" I said with a bit of anger in my voice.

The being merely chuckled, "Fool, I haven't brought you anywhere, you never left"

I looked closely at the body and would have shuffled backwards in complete horror when I discovered it was mine.

I lay slumped on the ground, barely breathing, my bones bent at odd angles, my life preserved only by my cultivation level and my unique core.

"Please help me, you have to help me," I said to the being, panic filling my voice.

"Do I," he said with a hint of mockery in his voice.

"Still think this is your body eh!" He mocked me while we both stared at my broken body.

I wanted to scream at him to get off his high horse and save me, when he said, "relax he is going to keep for a day or two before he expires, more than enough time for you to save him"

"Me, what can I do?" I said in a confused voice.

"More than you think, but that's the problem, you're not really thinking, like most people, you confuse knowledge with understanding."

"Within you lies the power to save not only yourself, but those dear to you. But this is not a video game or a fantasy novel, just because this reality is flexible does not mean answers will simply fall into your lap. Start using your head and get your act together."

He then stepped towards my body looking down at me struggling to breathe, "For the duration of our time together, you'll not speak, only listen."

"As you're aware, your implant has direct access to your body’s biometric data, using essence, it can manipulate your body down to your very cells, and as you grow in power, it will make connections to your being and become part of you"

"It's huge database of knowledge also means that it can accurately diagnose and treat with a large degree of certainty any wound or ailment, even if proper diagnosis is unavailable, essence can still be used to bridge the gap of ignorance, if only to an extent."

Slowly, I began to understand what he was hinting at.

I remember coming to the conclusion that refined essence acted like stem cells in the body, capable of replacing and upgrading any part of the body as long as it was guided by sufficient insight and control.

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With my implant's vast medical knowledge and it's massive processing ability to manipulate essence, I had access to near instantaneous healing ability.

The idea floored me as I thought of all the pain I had endured since coming to Zomyr.

I wanted to return to my body and query my implant, but he stopped me.

"You can't beat yourself up, you don't know what you don't know. Also I've already placed the instructions within your implant. You should see visible improvements in mere moments.

The idea that this being could control my implant nearly sent me into another state of panic.

Who was this being and just how powerful was he?

Suddenly, I felt raw essence get drawn to my broken form and it began to knit at a visible rate and I could see my breathing visibly improve.

"Be warned, this ability must not be used to encourage your recklessness because it requires a massive amount of authority; what you and those on this world call will."

"Because your implant is not a living entity, it has no ability to direct and manipulate essence and will draw it directly from you."

"You will be healed in a few moments, but because of your current level of "will," you'll be unable to do anything else shortly after."

"I have infused you with a minuscule measure of my will and directed some to your soul to sustain its growth. At your current level, you'll be unable to properly nourish your soul unless under unique circumstances."

"It will take a couple of hours for your body to achieve full functionality, for now we must focus on your escape attempt."

He stepped towards the bars and touched them, the bars glowed on contact like they were infused with essence and suddenly a sharp burning pain similar to the collar but stronger in intensity lanced through my mind.

"Motherfucker, that fucking hurt," I cried at him, my mind wracked in pain although the bars seemed to have no effect on his mind and body.

"I thought I told you not to speak, quit your whining and listen."

I grumbled a bit but complied, still afraid of being smithed.

"To free yourself and your friends, I will teach you a new technique, actually more of an entire school of magic than a technique, but with the aid of your implant, you should master it in no time at all."

"As you are aware, earthquakes are caused when the energy within elastically strained rocks is released. The released energy sends waves to the rocks' neighbors, causing a cascade of seismic waves."

"I'm going to show you how to replicate this effect on a smaller scale. To ensure effectiveness, this technique must first be used with the aid of your implant, but remember each time you rely on its insight and ability, you diminish your potential and at the cost of your precious will."

He stepped back from the bars and stretched his hands towards them, suddenly the small cell began to shake with increasing intensity.

"The earth is constantly in motion, grinding and settling against itself, constantly releasing massive amounts of kinetic energy. An earthquake is merely a culmination of this effect."

"Using your essence, you can direct powerful vibrations towards the earth in order to accelerate and exacerbate the process."

Soon the entire space was shaking and I thought the entire cell was going to cave in on me. I wasn't sure how useful this technique would be, if it killed me the first time I tried it.

"As you have already observed, your implant, due to its powerful computational ability, allows you access to higher tiered effects when manipulating your essence type. It is this ability that has consistently provided an advantage over your enemies so far."

"Now comes the difficult part, all that kinetic energy generated by the earth by my faux earthquake can now be drawn from the earth and directed in any way I see fit. For the purpose of destroying the bars, I will act as a conduit to draw all that pure force and direct it at the bars. Now imagine your body as part of the earth itself, open and ready to absorb and ground all forms of energy. Just like the earth let the force generated settle within you."

I saw and felt the blast of kinetic energy rapidly expand and push air away from us and towards the bars.

The resounding boom felt like he had used a shaped charge to destroy the bars.

I was stunned for a few moments by the loud noise, but my host was clearly unaffected and had already stepped through the newly created passage, sans bars and a huge chunk of the walls.

"As you lack the cultivation, skill and understanding to properly control higher tiered effects without ascending, you'll need to rely on your implant to perform this technique."

"The most optimal route would have been to directly manipulate the earth around the bars or overwhelm the effect on the bars, but your foundation is weak and you would be unable to sustain such an undertaking even with the aid of your implant."

"Listen carefully, until you can infuse your core, with not just your insight and will, but your hopes, your fears, your dreams and everything that is you, and you will never be able to reach its true potential."

"Because of this, there will be aspects of an effect that will be inaccessible to you and your tools until you can tap into the abstract aspects of the self and begin to see the world less rigidly."

Not long after we stepped out of the cell, two half-orc guards decked in heavy metal armor rushed at us with massive giant spiked mauls held single handed.

But the vibrations around us simply increased a touch and air was rapidly pushed towards them as the earth's kinetic energy absorbed, transferred and released.

The two half-orcs exploded in a shower of gore, their metal armor turned to shrapnel directed away from us by the force of the blast.

Soon more half-orcs rushed us and they were in turn overwhelmed with directed crushing force.

Now that my mental defenses were strengthened, or maybe because I was piggybacking on what I assumed was a god, I could now see the shadow imps that patrolled the entire place like some kind of secret police.

Although faster and stronger than the Orcs, they too were equally crushed by the overwhelming force. I felt like I was watching Jean Grey from X-men when she lost control of her phoenix aspect.

There was so much blood and gore, I don't think I had the heart to ruthlessly slaughter in such an indiscriminate fashion.

After a couple of twists and turns, we reached a more familiar area and I was able to determine that we were heading to Tinuviel's audience chamber, how he knew where he was going was a mystery to me.

As we reached the chamber, the massive half-orc guards that guarded her audience chamber rushed out with large metal shields to bar my way, but based on the power I'd seen expended in our previous altercations, I knew that these seemingly strong shields would simply be turned into deadly shrapnel under the crushing force of his technique.

The tremors around us increased substantially and force released ripped into the bodies of the shielded half-orcs in our path, moving past them and crushing the massive door behind them and rushing into the audience chamber.

I tried not to gag as we stepped over the ripped and shredded pile of bodies and body parts, my host seemingly unconcerned by the large scale carnage he caused in one attack.

He entered the chamber and turned left till he reached a set of rooms to the right. He opened the door but the scene that gripped me made me slump to the ground in defeat.

They were all dead, their throats savaged by large wounds, their bodies bled dry. Signs of repeated sexual abuse could also be seen on their bodies.

I wanted to cry, to scream, but I needed a body to do any of these things and the bastard I was sharing one with in his abject indifference, refused to aid me with my grieving.

There were signs of struggle, clearly they did not go quietly. Suu especially had flesh under her teeth and fingernails.

We were too late, from the look of the scene, it happened not too long ago.

I wanted to ask why anyone would do something so monstrous, but then I remembered that demons and vampires were monsters. I had not felt genocidal thoughts to any race or species until that moment.

While I was still grieving, the indifferent bastard said in my mind, "this is simply a possibility, soon you'll learn that essence is simply that "a possibility" no more or less."

"Now you must wake up if you're to change your fate and theirs. Again I shall wait for you at the end of a road forged with resolve and on the path of essence."

"NOW WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!"