“We are out of time, so I will send you the lore now. As soon as the blessing attaches to your soul, then that king will realize that something is wrong. You must summon your soul immediately. You must pull it away from him. Do you understand?”

I nodded. “I do.”

“Good. Then I will begin.”

She held up her hand, and then a small orb began to form. It wasn’t much different from the countless dungeon cores I had seen before. It slowly took on a form of its own, light ebbing off it in waves. It also seemed to have darkness mixed into it. It reminded me of the god core, a mixture of light and dark. As it formed, it began to rise off her palm. Then, with a wave, the orb went and struck my hip.

I gasped as I felt the familiar pain of information being bound to my soul. It lasted only for a second, and then there was a flash. I was back in the wet and the cold. It was dark and it stunk like rot. I was covered in even more black gunk than before. After what she had told me, I realized that this must be the real world, the world outside her lore. This was where my body was.

“Master.” I squinted as a form approached. “Master, you need to take my hand.”

The form slowly came out of the dark, and I could finally make out Terra. She reached out her hand to me. I was confused as to why she was there. However, she was my woman. She was my slave. I trusted her. My hand tried to reach out to her, but it was restrained. I began to push and pull.

Stolen story; please report.

“Master, please, there isn’t enough time! It’s now or never!” She cried out, looking terrified.

“AhhhHh!” I ripped free and threw my hand to her, just barely touching her fingertip.

There was another flash, and I stumbled. I was standing now. Looking around, I realized I was on the surface. However, the sky was filled with dark brown clouds, and the ground was dead. The black liquid seemed to stream over the land, giving it a dark swampy look. It was damp, dark, and lifeless, much like the area I had been in before. Being on the surface didn’t improve things at all.

“Master.”

That word caught my attention, and my eyes settled on Terra. She was standing a small distance away from me, almost like she was scared to come closer. I frowned slightly.

“What is going on?”

“There isn’t much time. We were only able to talk to you now, in this small window as your lore connects through the ground to your soul above.”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“I wasn’t absorbed… well, she took my body, but I detached my soul from my body and escaped into the ground. I’ve been in the rocks, hiding from her all this time. Haven’t you been getting my messages?”

“You mean, the rock on my head?”

“Ah… well, it’s hard to do stuff when you don’t have a body.” She blushed slightly, reminding me of the Terra of old.

“Okay, so you’re not part of Twilight.” I nodded in relief. “She lied about that, it seems. Who are we?”

“Gaia… she’s been guiding me.” Terra blushed. “She’s ready now.”

“Ready?”

“She’s ready to talk to Master.”

“I’m going to talk to the lifestream now?”

At this point, why not?

“She will need to speak through me. I’m sorry, it’s happening ah… aahhh…” Her head went up and her body jerked like she was in pain.

“Terra?”

Her eyes turned a piercing bright green, and her hand began to change into shades of blue and green. She looked down on me, her face expressionless.

“Hello, traveler.” Her voice came out with multiple tones, like a chorus of people all speaking at once.

I didn’t even need to ask at this point. “Hello, Gaia.”