After calming my breathing, which gave me some time to think, I answered again. “Keep the lights pointed towards the door, I'll check if there is any way for us to go outside from this room.”

I shouldn’t ask her to do something like this when she almost died and should probably stay close to her but the situation demanded otherwise.

I didn’t have any lights on me, but I could still make out most things in the darkness, at least better than I could out there for some reason.

The room was, funnily enough, a storeroom, and there seemed to be no windows or way out. Appearing to be used only for storing wholesale products. I checked for any vents and couldn’t find them either after 5 minutes of searching.

The room seemed to be intended to be cooled 24/7 with an a/c, but it wasn’t the wall-type air-cons you find in homes but an industrial one, with tubes and stuff.

So, no obvious paths which we could escape from.

I walked back towards Lea to report my findings. She was sitting and staring at the doorway, with the light seated on the ground along with her, pointing outwards.

“I searc-”

“Wahh!!,” She screamed.

“Jesus, you scared me,” She spoke in relief after seeing it was just me. “Find anything?”

“Yeah, no vents or windows. A/c is also a bust, no holes towards the outside.”

“Damn.“

“What about the lights," I asked, "how long do you think they’ll last?” The only thing keeping them away from us was this light, and it will run out, eventually.

If we were still inside when that happens, then we would truly be done for.

“I don’t know, the batteries were pretty big when I loaded it, so I’d say 6-8 hours? but the light is also pretty powerful, so it could also be as short as maybe 2 hours as well,” said Lea.

“Damn,” I mimicked and sat alongside her. “So, we have 6 hours to as short as 2 to figure out a way to get out of here.”

“Any bright ideas?” she asked expectedly, but with a resigned undertone.

I thought for a bit, then spoke.

“That message, accept it,”

She replied with recognition in her eyes, “Will it give me an ability like you?”

“No, not directly, but it shows you your soul and you kinda have to figure it out yourself. But I’ll try to help you.”

“Your soul?” Lea asked, in confusion.

“Well, at least I think it is. It shows something inside of you, something that keeps you alive, something that makes you a living being. I’m just assuming what I saw was the soul, but maybe you’ll think different.” I replied unsurely.

“Ok, I’ll try accepting it.” She replied nervously.

“Wait.” I forgot about the losing sensation part, for me since I was in my safe room, I didn’t panic, but for her, I imagine being suddenly thrust into darkness just after that brush of death would be a lot more panic-worthy. No matter her mental strength.

“You’re going to lose all your sense’s including your sight, but you have to stay calm and try to understand most of what you see, ok.”

“That sounds scary, I’m getting more and more unsure about this”

“It’s okay, you can do this,” I said to her reassuringly. “You got limited time in there, so try to dig deeper, look closer and manipulate things”

She nodded and closed her eyes. I could see the exact instant she accepted the directive. Her body froze up instantly and lost her expression.

I have no idea how long she will be in that state for, but I reckon it couldn’t be longer than 5 minutes. It was for me. At least I think so.

I got up and looked outside the doorway. The smaller creatures were patiently waiting, staying outside the light’s reach. Like they could sense that what protected us couldn’t do it so indefinitely. I couldn’t see the big one yet, but I could feel its overwhelming presence.

It was definitely watching us.

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What to do....? Even if I could teach her to do ‘vitality’ like me, I doubt it can help us run away from here. Running away from that thing seemed impossible, fighting it even more so.

I was kinda banking on the hunch that she might get something different from me. Affinity meant that different people have different affinities. This means that there was a chance that she might get a unique ability, different from mine.

A tugging sensation pulled me from my thought. The same sensation I got previously when I ignored the words. Just as I recognized the feeling, the words jumped forth into my vision, like always.

Affinity: Light and Vitality

Soul Strength: Lower Level 1 -> Lower Level 2

My soul is now 2? More number means better. I guess.

But... does it keep increasing when I kill stuff? Is the energy I feel flowing into me when I kill them, their souls?

That…was disturbing. I didn’t want any part of those disgusting beings inside me, but it wasn’t in my control anyway, I had to kill them to survive.

I remembered that omnipresent view I got when I killed the fiend on top of Lea. Like a dam bursting forth, something broke out of me and I could suddenly sense everything around me for a moment. it disintegrated as quickly as it came as well.

I did not know what that was, but it saved me. Enabling me to see the room that was at the end of the mart. My vitality was also suddenly stronger. No, it felt stronger before that happened as well.

Coming to me instantly where previously I had to concentrate for a second, but after that happened, it was like it changed to a whole new level.

I remember killing those things with a single thrust, and how fast those thrusts were. I wasn’t physically tired right now as well, the crippling side effect that occurs after I use vitality absent.

In fact, I actually felt healthier than ever despite the old and new wounds I received today.

Level 2, huh. It definitely did change to a whole new level.

.....I thought for a bit, organizing everything, putting together all the information I had to make a picture.

So...killing things makes my soul get stronger and thus my aura, which explains the feeling of something filling inside of me when I took lives.

And since vitality was dependent on my aura, it consequently got stronger as well? And when it reached a boiling point, my aura spilled out into the world.

And that vision thing happened.

But instead of that making me weaker, it counterintuitively somehow made my aura stronger, which is supported by the increase in number in my soul level, from 1 to 2.

That felt closer to the truth, but somehow still wrong. But I felt that further rumination on this was pointless, at least for the current situation.

I looked at my affinity. Vitality and Light.

I know what vitality does, at least I think I do. Maybe it could do even more than I thought, or I was only using a part of it. But what about Light?

If it was anything like my vitality was, then I was missing half the tool that was available to me. It was even shown first before vitality was. Don’t know if that means anything, though.

But if it was an ability that worked as it sounds, wouldn’t that be the most perfect one in this situation?

I racked my head around, thinking about how to use it.

Light....light.... light...light…Darkness? Something which was in the back of my mind popped up.

This whole place was weird in the first place, now that I think about it.

It should only be mid-day outside right now but the inside of the mart was pitch-black as if it was in the middle of the night.

Even if the whole supermarket was closed off, there should be windows, vents, and parts where light comes in. At least it shouldn’t be this dark.

There was also the matter with that big one. Even though the light was shined directly on it, it only revealed a faint silhouette of it. As if the darkness surrounding it was too thick to be penetrated by light.

Affinity, light, vitality, different powers, darkness… Although I comprehended nothing concretely, I got a vague understanding of things.

Maybe light means I could...make light? like that thing seems to make this whole place pitch dark? Sounds crazy, but it wouldn’t be outside the realms of possibilities when you think of all these crazy events that happened.

And if it works. We could actually survive. I thought as a smile crept up.

I closed my eyes, feeling the aura in my hands; it was kind of risky closing my eyes instead of being on the lookout. But we were done for if this doesn’t work anyway.

I could sense the aura, clearer than I could have ever before. It felt thicker, stronger somehow. That supported my theory that my soul does get stronger from killing and absorbing other beings.

I lifted my hands and made a fist with it. Concentrating on the aura in it. I Imagine it being converted into light. Imagined it having the same property as the torch. The brightness. The heat. The radiation.

I imagined my aura converting itself into something containing those properties. Bright. Hot. Illuminating.

I opened my eyes to look at my hands...and nothing. My hands were covered in the same pitch black-darkness as everywhere else.

“Goddammit.”

I let out a deep sigh. Well, now that I think about it, spewing lights from my hands seems stupid in hindsight. Even though the reality was as crazy as it is now, it wasn’t like people would start suddenly throwing fireballs or lightning out of their hands.

"Wahhhhh!"

I jolted from my rumination. The coast was still clear, nothing in front of me was any different, the creatures still staying clear of the light.

I looked back, alarmed. It was Lea, looking to have fallen flat on the ground.

I calmed down. Right, she must have experienced the same disoriented feeling I got.

I ran closer to her.

“What happened, how was it like?” I asked her, expectedly, as she got up.

But she kept quiet, ignoring me. Seemingly being in a trance state, or deep in thought, with a thousand-yard stare.

Yeah, I knew that look; it was the same one I had when I came back as well.

The feeling of knowing the truth about reality, the feeling of complete understanding of how the world works. Though it was only temporary and the truth would quickly dissipate, like water flowing out of your hands.

I should let her concentrate on it as much as I can before that happens. I thought as I backed off slightly, giving her space.

She stared at her hands, like looking at something spectacular. Flexing her fingers and looking at it in wonder, like seeing something no one else could.

I guess she’s looking at the aura in her hands? I thought as I looked in apathy.

And out came a small flame.