Meera could do nothing but gawk at the talking ghost of a horse. It was a black horse with a white mane, or that is what it looked like, thanks to the white smoke coming off the ghost.

"Yes, I can talk. Why is that the most surprising thing to you?" the horse shot back.

"Well, horses don't tend to talk. They neigh mostly, and unless horses work differently in this world, they don't talk."

"Well, I would assume all this smoke coming off me and the fact that my body is literally lying below me would be evidence enough that this is a special situation."

"But still, how can you talk?" Meera asked. "Were you able to do so when you were alive?"

The horse rolled his head around, which she took close to him, rolling his eyes. "I don't know. When I died, I gained the ability to talk because I was not confined to the limitations of my body."

"So, what you're saying is all souls or ghosts can talk, regardless of the body that the soul came out of," she said, eying the corpse below the ghost.

"Yes…it would seem so."

"That is amazing. This means that once an animal dies, we would have to wait for its soul to rise, and then we can ask them all sorts of things."

The horse snorted in a very human-like manner. "Now, you sound like one of the people who did this to me."

Meera frowned as she glanced at the diary. "The ones who called you a failed experiment. What were they trying to do to you anyway?"

The horse looked away and did not answer.

"Come on, you can tell me that much. They were trying to do something since they took out your muscles and heart. Please, what were these people doing here, and who were they? They turned into those wraiths outside, didn't they?"

"Why do you care?" the Horse barked. "How come you're alive? Why haven't the wraiths ripped you to shreds and made you one of them? Why don't you answer that first?"

Meera could tell she would get nowhere like this. She needed to make this horse trust her somehow. "My name is Meera. I come from…well, the outside world."

The horse huffed. "That's obvious."

Meera smiled. "What is your name?"

The horse snapped his head to her, and his eyes stared into hers as it finally spoke after a long silence. "I was called Onyx in life."

"I can see why they called you that."

"Why would they call me that, huh? Why? They always said it was the right name for me but never said why. Tell me!"

"Relax, big fellow. It's because the color of your coat is black. Onyx is a black gemstone. Hence, they named you as such. Don't be mad. It's a good name."

That relaxed the ghost, or it felt that way. Meera no longer felt that it was about to attack her. So, she probed with her original questions. "Can you please tell me what happened here? What did they do to you?"

"Master wouldn't like it. He would get mad."

"I'm pretty sure your master is dead, along with everything else in here."

"That doesn't mean he's not watching."

Now, Meera was more than intrigued. "Is he watching us right now?"

The horse looked at her and then looked away, neighing. "Most likely. He has total command over every cursed soul here."

This made Meera frown, and she used Identify on the ghostly horse before her.

[Trapped Soul – Level 72]

Now, two questions rose in her mind. First, why had this horse not turned into a wraith like the rest of the denizens of this cave, and second, how had it leveled up so much while being dead, or was it already so highly leveled while alive and then died later? Now that she thought about it, another thing stumped her—why did the wraiths stop to heed his command, and why did they not enter this tunnel?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Who is this master?" Meera asked. "You can tell me this much, at least. I know from this diary that they were experimenting on you."

"I-I am not allowed to take his name, but from how the others talked about him. He was a great man who was trying to infuse the skills of us animals into people."

Meera squinted. "There were other animals experimented on here?"

Onyx considered a moment, then answered. "Y-Yes."

"Were it those other voices I heard?"

"Yes, only two others survived when the cave was inflicted with the curse. What exactly happened, you will have to ask someone else. I was already dead by the time the cave fell."

Meera thought about what he said for a moment, as she paced the room. Onyx watched her intently but said nothing. "I don't think your master has any control over you," Meera finally said.

"How do you know that?"

"Well, for one, all those wraiths outside their tags were Cursed Wraiths, and yours is Trapped Soul, which means those people were Cursed, yet you were not. Your soul got trapped here because of whatever they did to you. Hence why you haven't lost your mind and begun attacking me on sight."

Onyx neighed. "That…makes sense, I guess."

"Tell me, do you feel this master's influence on you this instant."

Onyx shook his head, another very human-like behavior. "No, I don't think so."

"No voice in your head telling you to trample me into the ground."

“Uh… no”

"That means you're fine. Your master cannot do anything to you."

The black steed relaxed at that and visibly deflated into the table.

"Can you tell me what they did to you?" Meera asked.

"They-They were trying to gain my speed and strength, and so they took…bits and pieces of me and dissolved them in some liquids and then burnt them in a sort of ritual, I think. I'm sorry I was in too much pain to focus on anything then."

This matched what the diary had said. They were trying to assimilate skills from animals into themselves, like how she had done in the past. This made Meera wonder if they had succeeded, which was why the witch, Kalrina, wanted this Crystal of Darthin.

Meera refocused on the horse. "Even though they put you through this. Ripped out your heart, and you still won't tell me his name?"

Onyx hesitated.

"You're already dead. What more could he do to you?"

"His name is Edwyn Toller."

Right when Onyx uttered his name, the whole room shook like an earthquake. Dust fell from the ceiling, and the various beakers quivered and threatened to spill over.

"I'm sorry, master. She made me do it." Onyx shrieked and dropped back into his corpse.

Slowly, the quivering stopped, and luckily nothing broke in the room, which was good as there was something here that Onyx did not want her to find or why would he try so hard to stop her from coming in here.

"You can come out now, Onyx," Meera said. "The earthquake's passed."

"Earthquake!" Only Onyx's head reappeared. "That was more than an earthquake. That was the master's fury, and it will be more terrible if I tell you anything more."

Meera sighed. "Say, what is here that you didn't want me to come in here."

Onyx looked to the right and then down. "Nothing. I was just scared that you would…make things even more terrible for me."

"Even more terrible than being trapped here after death?"

"…Yes."

Meera shook her head. "Fine. If you won't tell me, then I suppose I must take a look myself."

"No!" Cried Onyx. "You really should not touch anything in this room."

"Listen, Onyx, either you give me the information I want, and I will make sure you are no longer trapped in this cursed cave, or you stay out of my way. I'm looking for the Crystal of Darthin. Do you know anything about it?"

"Crystal of Darthin? Never heard about it." He looked at the ground and then back at her. "But can you seriously get me out of this cave?"

"I think I know of a way."

"How?"

"I am going to kill your master."

Onyx gasped, another human-like behavior, but Meera went on. "I figure this Edwyn Toller is the cause of the curse. He must have played with things he wasn't supposed to, and those wraiths are the result."

"I don't think you can kill what he's become, even with those shiny circlets of yours."

Meera smirked. "We'll see about that. But before that, I need to know what was in here that you didn't want me to come in here. The other two promised me treasures, but I guess you were the lucky one. So, what is in here? You better tell me if you ever want to leave this cave."

Onyx looked around and even at the ceiling as if his cursed master was going to pop out of there at any instant. "I'll tell you but promise to get me out of here."

"I promise."

"How can I be sure you'll keep your promise?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

Onyx didn't look convinced, but he nodded. "It was because of what's in that box over there." He motioned to the small wooden box on his right. "Whatever they created in this room is in there. I was dead, but my soul heard them saying the crystal was a failure and did not produce the desired result. Then, an explosion happened outside, and they ran to check and never returned. That's all I know."

"I see." Meera made her way to the box. It was a polished, dust-covered box that didn't look like it had been touched in years. She blew the dust off and opened the box, and inside was a broken crystal. It was dirty orange in color and had various crack-like veins running through it.

So, this is a failure. Meera picked it up and wondered if it would work but decided to give it a try. She used Identify on it.

[Failed Crystal of Darthin – This crystal could not be what it was meant to be. It failed to reach the perfection that Darthin would be proud of, but still, one can merge two of their skills into one with this crystal.]

Meera's eyes widened. It can do what!