As Ravok approached, Red acted precisely how he predicted, forming the sizeable red ax in her hands and swinging it down to his face with the same power and strength the skeletal figure displayed before, streams of red energy trailing the weapon as it went on its path downwards. To her shock, however, Ravok didn't seem even a little surprised at the attack, swinging his left arm with full force against the side of the blade, knocking it right off its path towards him, swinging wide to his left as he charged in with his fist ready. He threw it towards her face with all the force he could muster.

For a moment, Red looked shocked, surprised that Ravok predicted her moves even slightly. But in only a split second, she was again entirely concentrated on the battle, letting her ax go as it flung outwards into nothing. She braced her arms in the direction of the punch before it could connect with her face as both landed and stumbled onto the ground.

"You aren't… complete sh*t at least." Red, her voice seemed to have let go of the anger it was holding onto before, standing up as she braced her arms in the position of a professional boxer.

Ravok was disappointed that his hit did not connect, but he did not expect much more than what happened. In his memory, he saw Blue her memories, how hard she had trained day in and out. If she was even half Blue's fighter, she had more years of experience than he had.

He considered talking to Red for a moment now that she seemed to have calmed down but quickly went against that idea. Anything he would say would only worsen the situation. All he could do was try and defeat her in the fight.

Red went onto the initiative, running forward as she did before, on the aggressive/attacker side of the battle. Starting her struggle with a jab that was quicker than any of the ax swings she had performed, there was little time to dodge for Ravok. All he could do was bring his arms up to block the attack. This was his first time getting hit, and he could immediately feel the pulsating pain coming from his arm. Red was strong, stronger than most punches he had taken before.

This wasn't the last of it. The attacks that followed were all as quick and devastating as the first, one jab after another followed by a right hook. All Ravok could do was block until his arms were bruised, taking each hit until he finally realized matching her fighting style would only leave him on the defensive. As Red was swinging in another hook, Ravok ducked to the left, leaning his body over to the right as he charged up his leg and delivered a swift kick to her side. To his shock, however, she blocked it, he noticed it hurt, but as she protected herself, she followed it up by grabbing his leg, holding on as she lifted him off his feet and swung him above her head down onto the ground with a devastating crack. As his vision tried to steady itself, it was followed by a stinging, powerful blow right into his stomach. It felt like his organs were crushed and almost squeezed between her fist and the ground as the burning pain spread through his body.

"The duel is over… Red is the victor." Blue's voice echoed through the room.

Ravok could only cough and gasp for air as he held his stomach. Words formed in his mind, but he was in too much pain to get them out. As he stared at the ground, he noticed Red's shoes next to him. Struggling to look up, he saw Red holding out her hand. Her face was still angry but less than before. "You did your best… you are not forgiven… but you put up an alright fight" Ravok could only take the hand that helped him up, still clutching his belly with one hand.

"So….where are we?" Ravok asked as he looked around. He never had a chance to ask or think about the place the three of them resided. It looked like something straight out of a drug-fueled dream.

Blue quickly answered, "We seem to be within your Soul Heart… which is strange… it normally should only be accessible to you in normal circumstances… if you were a being like us. Even a soul link should not normally allow us access to this place as it is deep within your soul… normally, you would require a tool to get here…" Ravok and Red looked confused at her explanation. Ravok was sure that what she just said made a lot of sense. Still, to him, it sounded like something you would hear in a cult or church.

Blue sighed for a moment, holding her hand behind her, and figures started appearing in thin air. A shape of a human-like creature and a ball of some form of energy. "This is you, and this is your soul.. see your soul like a house… when you link souls with another creature.." As she spoke, another exact image replica appeared next to the one already there.

"You form a bridge through which you share your information, emotions, skills, and, should you be willing to do so, memories. However, this bridge only reaches the surface level of the other soul… the front door if you so will." The image shifted once more, forming a bridge between the two orbs of energy, a person walking over it until it reached the outer layer, where a figure opened a door and started talking to the other. It looked like a lousy animation for children playing out right in front of them. "The reason why it has never been attempted with more than two is that energy and information need to steadily flow in and out of three directions, which luckily for us succeeded but inside of your house you have.. your room that only you have the key to… somehow we entered that room inside of you and resided here… By analyzing how it feels… our power is being distributed into your body evenly.."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Ravok still looked confused, but Red started to understand what was being explained, most likely due to already having experienced a soul link once before. "So because we are soul linked, through time you will understand Red and Mines skills.. and we yours... This link that combines and exchanges skill is one of the many reasons two individuals might link their souls… but with you, it seems like we have gotten an additional benefit." Blue says very methodically as she makes the orbs and bridge disappear from the two individuals.

"Normally… within a soul link, two individuals remain themselves while unable to part too far from each other if they do not desire the risk of breaking their soul link. In your case, Red and I…. fused into your being… like an empty vessel… This means that instead of keeping all of our own power levels and just learning through each other… Red and mines power stacks together while inside of you" Behind her, the two individuals are visualized in two blocks, one red and one blue. The bridge between them is just called skill. But as she shows what it means to be inside Ravok, the two blocks are stacked onto each other, with a small empty block below it representing himself. "Or at least that is my assumption based on the power your body is currently emitting. The only danger is that Red and Mines's power has to be balanced as if we were to give you more of my power and less of Reds, the power through your body will become unbalanced, and this may have unknown consequences."

It slowly started to make sense to Ravok. While most of the terms and references still made no sense to him, the basics were at least understandable due to the soul link and that it was happening in a way that it shouldn't. As long as Red and Blue are within this world, his power would be that of both of theirs combined, and if one of them were to refuse to give him strength, something might happen, most likely something dangerous.

Ravok nodded finally in understanding when Red suddenly spoke up. "So just because we merged into him, he became more powerful than either of us?" Through her voice, you could hear that she was frustrated at the idea.

Blue only nodded in confirmation as Red turned herself towards Ravok. "I am Red… or at least that is the name Blue gave me" Her voice was hesitant, slightly vulnerable, which was strange for her.

"My name is Ravok. It is nice to meet you properly." He said awkwardly. Whatever standard order of introduction you should follow, he didn't, and if anything, they got off on the worst foot imaginable, but it was at least pleasant to know that he could make an effort.

"If you guys don't mind me asking… what happened to you here and what are you?" Despite the dangers that seemed to come with their appearance. They were not ordinary humans and had powers that you could find in a comic to boot, powers that he now possibly shared.

Red sighed with frustration. "We don't know… based on the people chasing us. We are… Beasts of Color… but I don't think that is what we are called... or at least I hope not."

Blue explained, "We don't think we are from this… world… this dimension.. it feels too strange.. too off, my memories…." As she got to the words, memories, it was clear that Red grew more frustrated. "show that I had a family in a different world than this… it was more vibrant… more colorful... there was less of the technology that you use…." She was looking up as she spoke, looking into the heavens as if to search for memories she could no longer remember.

Red took back over as if they were the same person speaking and finishing Blue's thoughts. "And when we first arrived with each other… we couldn't remember anything... We tried to ask the people in suits, but they didn't listen…they couldn't understand us. They attacked us, and we defended ourselves, having been on the run with just us two. Their weapons were more potent than we could have imagined, they had powers similar to ours, but their weapons were just pure technology, with no manifestation of their power to be found.

Ravok squinted his eyes, there was nothing in his world that he knew about would work as they explained, but he also knew that a lot of his world was hidden beneath layers of politics and bureaucracy. "So… now that we are linked. Am I a target as well?" He asked as images of Sarah and Cole started flashing through his mind. There was a skeleton-like figure after his house and possibly some secret agency.

Blue thought for a moment before answering. "In this state? Yes… but if Red and I were to reside here inside of your soul while suppressing our powers, refusing to share anything with you, then you might be able to pass off as a normal human being… or if we were to exit this place completely, then our powers should stop manifesting within you just the same"

Red thought about it for a moment. "Alright, for now, I will stay with you.. but don't think I have forgiven any of your intrusions yet. I appreciate you saving my life, but… what you did was too much.." Her face, for a moment, became flustered, ashamed, scared, and slightly betrayed. "Just… go for now, alright.." She said as Ravok looked at Blue to confirm, only to receive the same nod she gave him over and over.

"Alright.. how do I do that?" Ravok asked. It was not like he came here by his own choice.

"You concentrate… think about walking out of a house or room into the open world… If you wish to return here, you should imagine walking into a house or room. We will ask you to come out when we are ready so that you aren't surprised, but we should return here soon… we have to talk about something in private." Blue said methodically before moving over to Red, who seemed to be much more exhausted than she initially let on.

Ravok gave her a nod as he sat down, closing his eyes. He imagined his house and walking out to school like he did every morning. From one moment to the next, his eyes sprung open. He was still on the floor in his bathroom, staring at the ceiling after having just fallen.