“There is a question that I often hear asked from my apprentices as they pursue their studies with me, one that I always both eagerly await, and at the same time, dread its arrival. ‘Master, what is a black soulmeld?’ They ask, often with their brows furrowed or mouth upturned in disgust. It’s those apprentices that I am relieved to see. That I all but instantly trust will do right in the realm. In a rare few however, I see the opposite. I see eagerness. I see greed. They are the ones who terrify me the most and whose tutelage almost always ends once the question is posed.”
—Interview with Grandmaster Soulweaver Tarris Jade, The Golden Age, 4991
And just like that, Vincent was somewhere else, the warehouse that had been around, him just a moment earlier completely gone.
In its place, Vincent found himself lying flat on a bed in what he took to be a room, or at least part of one, for as his gaze played across a vaguely familiar wooden wall to his side, it abruptly ended, becoming an infinite void of black.
Where... am I? Vincent wondered as he continued his inspection of his surroundings, discovering that all that existed around him was in fact the bed he lay on and a few feet of wooden wall and floor beyond him, a wholly unnatural scene that all but confirmed where he was and what had happened to him. A memory. I'm… in a memory. But it's broken... badly so. Nothing like the other one I recovered.
As if waiting for him to make that connection, Vincent's surroundings then started to change with a chair suddenly appearing beside his bed, followed a second later by the silhouette of what was unmistakably a woman. Yet that simple shadow, that outline of a figure, was as far as his memories took him, the shade moving as if was talking, simply sitting with him, or at one point, reading a book. Then, without any sign Vincent could see, she stood up, reached for his hand, and bent down to kiss him on his forehead, the simple motion bringing an mistakable feeling of warmth before she vanished.
M... mother? Vincent asked, his voice echoing through his mind as something wrenched his heart, almost twisting it from his chest.
From the moment that he'd first awoken to his new life he'd wondered what he might have had of family. Either in the past, in his first life, or in the one he lived now. Yet in either case he'd been soothed by fact that he remembered nothing, no parents, siblings, children, or even a spouse. All there had been was a black void. One that while disappointing in some way had been peaceful, if only for the lack of heartache it brought.
A peace that Vincent realized was about to be stripped away from him when the shadow of a young boy sat down in the chair beside his bed and held up the outline of a toy horse.
My brother. Vincent thought as he watched the boy move the horse across the side of his bed, the sounds of distant laughter reaching his ears and crushing his heart even further. Something that mercifully ended quickly when the boy suddenly looked over his shoulder at something, then quickly turned back towards Vincent, waved urgently, and then leapt from his chair, fading away into nothingness as he did so.
It was right then as the shadow disappeared that Vincent began to try a free himself from the cage that the memory had locked him in, having seen, having felt enough. But he simply couldn't, his will nowhere to felt and his magic coming up empty. Nor did his body so much as twitch in response to his efforts either, leaving him truly trapped in place.
And then another shadow appeared, at his bed side, this one tall, strong, and imposing.
So much so that in any other circumstance Vincent would have felt afraid when the silhouette bent down over the bed and lifted him up. Yet as it did, a profound sense of protection and safety fell over him as he was soon cradled close.
Father, Vincent thought his heart all but shredding itself apart at the emotion that poured into it and causing what little there was around him to fade away. All that there was, was the moment of peace and safety as if nothing in the world could go wrong. But of course as all the other fragmented memories showed, the moment did not last forever and he soon found himself being lowered back into his bed, the shade of his father nowhere to be seen.
What...what could possibly be next? Vincent wondered as the room around him began to change, the walls, the light, even the bed itself changing as if an incredible amount of time was passing all at once. What more could this memory have to torment me with?
It was perhaps a line of thought that Vincent should have avoided tempting the universe with, for soon after he had given it life, did everything abruptly come into focus.
Especially the pain that lanced all throughout his body.
"Now no screaming," Vincent heard a voice tell him as something sharp plunged straight into his navel. “It'll all be over soon enough. Soon as I can see what exactly what you have hidden inside you."
Coming into existence as they spoke Vincent saw another shadow take shape, this time looming above him. Appearing slowly, as if it was somehow refusing to be made real, the silhouette of darkness then rapidly began to take on details, gaining not, only definition, but sharpening itself in clarity until it took the shape of a man.
Or rather an Ascendant as Vincent immediately identified they were by the golden light of their eyes and bright red streaks that coursed down either sides of their face.
"There, there now,” the unknown man continued after staring into Vincent's face for a moment, a look of concentration then coming over him, "We…are…almost…"
Vincent felt something slice deep into him, so deep in fact that a rough hand came up to cover his mouth.
"…there.” The unknown man finished, sounding suddenly tired as beads of sweat appeared on his face. "Now let's see if you've got anything useful for me."
And that was the last clue that Vincent needed to understand where he was, or rather what was happening to him.
This... this is when my melds were stolen from me, he realized watching his twisted hand come up to attempt to bat his attacker away, but to no avail, the man simply ignoring its feeble strength. This is who took them away from me.
"Huh, well, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised,” Vincent heard him say as something deep within him started to poke and claw at his spirit. "It's just as bad in here as it is outsi…"
His words trialed off abruptly as a look of pure astonishment crossed, his face, one that for a moment was laced by fear, before turning into greed.
"Oh on second thought, what do we have in here?" The man asked in a whisper. "Now that... that isn't something I expected to find at all inside something like you. Where did you get it?"
Instantly the scratching sensation inside Vincent's spirit turned to pure agony as he felt something cleave deep into him, his vision all but instantly dimming and becoming grainy as if sand had been poured upon it.
"Now that... that is..." The man continued to whisper, his hand pulling free of Vincent's mouth and beckoning towards something out of his view, a motion that a split second later caused two familiar entities to appear. The first being none other than Hanner, one of the men that had had abducted him, and the other being the white scaled wind serpent, trapped in the very same case he'd just rescued it from.
"Bring it close,” the man ordered as he pushed his hand through the bars and grabbed hold of the serpent's body, ignoring its attempts to fight back at him. "It'll be a good vessel for the first one."
And as those words filled the air Vincent felt the memory around him rapidly begin to lose what sharpness it had left, the sand that filled his vision growing in intensity until everything became incomprehensible.
That is for everything except for the blinding pain that started to build and build within him, intensifying rapidly until his vision once again turned a blinding white.
Yet this time instead of it completely overwhelming Vincent, the pain simply escalated until it reached a crescendo and then abruptly vanished. However more than just going away, its departure marked the end of the memory that he'd found himself drawn into, reality all but slamming into Vincent as he found himself back in the warehouse now staring at an empty cage with tears streaming down his face.
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For Vincent hadn't forgotten that he was still in the middle of a battle despite however long his mental journey had taken him. As such, he wasted no more time in turning to see just how much time that he had lost, his body snapping towards where he had last seen the Ascendant.
Just a few seconds, good, Vincent thought next when he spotted the aforementioned figure and saw that they had yet to regain their feet fully, one arm clutching their stomach as they struggled to rise. Satisfied that he had time there, Vincent's next move was to shift his attention towards where he had last seen Theo, who was the whole reason that they had come here for.
And promptly saw the results of the alarm that he had allowed the Ascendant to get off when the battle had started.
Eyes dropping downward, the first thing Vincent noticed were the bodies on the ground, ones that didn’t belong to those already dead upon their arrival. Counting quickly, he found that there were three of them all sprawled out on the floor, blood weeping freely from their wounds. Next he then saw the cause of said bodies adorning the warehouse floor which was because of no one other than Norin with Theo standing a few strides behind him. Having positioned himself just past a double door into the building, Vincent saw the dwarf squaring off with two Shadowed Hand attackers, the lack of manamarks upon them hopefully identifying them as Dormants in Vincent’s mind.
But that wasn't what caused Vincent's heart to leap when he took in the carnage that the dwarf had brought in the few seconds his attention had been directed elsewhere. Rather it was the sound of many rushing feet and cursing voices that he suddenly picked up from beyond the doorway that set his stair on edge.
Sounds that he only heard courtesy of his still forming soulbind and the perception soulmeld that it connected to.
More people coming, seven... maybe eight of them, Vincent counted as his Insight gave him its best guess as to was what could be causing the nose, prompting a spike of worry to lance into his heart. Eight more attackers, even Dormants, was a lot for them to handle at their current states, or at least so he assumed given that Norin was unable to wield any mana and had to resort to more physical matters when it came to dealing with an opponent. If any of them were armed with a decent amount of mana, let alone virtues, then they were in trouble.
Fortunately though, as Vincent glanced down to the shimmering blade of air he held in his hand, even after his mental sojourn, he had one way of evening the battlefield before things went truly out of their control.
"Norin, down!" He shouted while sending even more wind mana into the swirling vortex of air that he held, causing it to swell and grow thicker. This all while he brought the arm backwards, preparing it for a throw. One that he fortunately didn't need to wait on either as the dwarf promptly reacted to Vincent's shout, throwing himself backwards in a surprisingly acrobatic roll towards Theo’s side that Vincent would have thought impossible for his condition. Regardless it was enough to a clear path towards two Shadowed Hands Dormants whose attention had swapped to him at his shout. Attention that after a second's count to gauge the timing, Vincent saw explode in to terror when his arm came forward to launch his second Wind slash in their direction.
With only enough time to let out panicked scream the rearing blade of air crossed the short distance that separated them, all but instantly slicing through their bodies as it connected, neither of them possessing the time, ability, or prenatural toughness granted to Ascendants to stop it. But nor did the wind slash stop there as it carved through them, Vincent using a thread of mana he’d left connected to the spell to then sharply angle it towards the wide open door behind them.
Only to have it arrive at same moment that a man appeared and catch him completely by surprise at chest height.
The result was an instant massacre as the virtue imbued crescent of air mana cut straight through his body without so much as a pause and continued onwards out of sight, the sound of several loud screams and falling thuds on the ground echoing out a second later. Sounds that despite their ghastly implications was a relief for Vincent, for it meant that not only had his attack trimmed the numbers of oncoming Shadowed Hand attackers, but that it was unlikely that there was another Ascendant among their number.
A good thing, considering that just one is enough for us to deal with, Vincent thought as he promptly shifted his attention back towards his primary opponent trusting that Norin would handle, or if not keep busy, those that had evaded the flying blade of air. It was a decision that was instantly proven to be the right one for Vincent to make, for the Ascendant had not only made it back up to their feet but had also finished coating their midsection in shadow, no doubt to stem the bleeding of the wound he'd inflicted.
Damn it, he can shadow mend, Vincent thought as he recognized what the Ascendant had done, essentially shaping shadow mana to serve as part bandage as well as augment healing. Though in the case of the latter, thankfully not fast enough as to completely remove the wounds as would be the case with proper healing done with life mana, rather it was stopgap measure to ensure he had a decent chance to survive the battle.
Assuming that Vincent let him, an outcome that was starting to become highly in doubt as he began to channel another surge of mana.
From the first exchange Vincent already knew that meeting the man in melee combat was not in his best interest if he could help it. Not only was he unarmed now, thanks to the loss of his walking stick, but his combat memories were just that, memories. Incomplete ones at that too. Moreover, Vincent had no idea what exactly he had encountered when he attempted to dominate the mana within the Ascendant’s body, save that the attempt had failed.
So instead he decided to focus upon his ranged ability, prompting him to reach for his wind mana again, quickly drawing it from his soul well and launching it at the Ascendant, who to Vincent's dismay promptly rolled to the side to evade the swirling vortex of air.
"Hrm, won't get me twice with that!" The Ascendant shouted as the gust of air splashed harmlessly against the wall where he'd just been standing and threw up a cloud of dust, the man then promptly lunging towards Vincent with frightening speed. So much of it in fact that against anyone else, the man might have been able to end the battle there and then. Yet against Vincent, or anyone else who had a radiant core full of mana, it was far too slow to do anything but catch a fistful of mana in the face.
Fire mana in this case.
Exploding outwards from his palm, the blast of fire couldn't have been better aimed, splashing directly against the Ascendant's eyes and earning Vincent a loud and incoherent shout as seared flesh. Yet for as effective as the attack was in charring the man's face, it also prompted an immediate and violent defensive response.
Sensing it just a moment before it was unleashed, Vincent felt a storm of death mana rise up in the man before exploding out in a burst. A warning that in effect saved both his and Aero’s life, for when the black wave of energy washed over them, Vincent had managed to fill both their bodies with the last dregs of life mana that he had to offer. As such, when the wave of death mana arrived it was all but instantly neutralized, the two opposing forces all but cancelling one another out.
But while simply surviving had been Vincent’s initial intention, his flooding of life mana all but instantly brought on a secondary effect, that being the all but instant revival of Aero upon his shoulders.
Coming to life thanks to the healing mana’s effects, the wind serpent’s limp body abruptly tensed as their head snapped upwards and sent a point blank blast of air erupting from its mouth. A blast that was powerful enough to rip the Ascendant's feet from the ground and send them crashing into the wall of warehouse with enough force to crack it.
"Aero help!" The creature exclaimed as they lifted off from Vincent’s body and took to the air, the soulbinding process apparently no longer needing full contact. "Bash man! Crush man!"
“Yeah, let's do that," Vincent replied, quickly focusing on a way to do exactly that. Fortunately, Aero had given him the inspiration on how he could do exactly that, prompting him to reach for both his shadow mana as well as his last remaining combat virtue.
Weaving them together in the span of a second, Vincent then found himself recasting a spell he’d used just a week or so earlier. Yet this time as a thick tentacle of shadow reached out to grab hold of the battered, bleeding, and charred Ascendant, wrapping itself around their body, it did not do so gently. No, instead this time, it pinned the man's arms to the sides of his body with enough force that even their-reinforced bones cracked, earning Vincent a pained scream in the process.
However Vincent didn't stop there as he mentally yanked the tentacle upward, and lifted the screaming man off the ground, letting him hang there for a split second. Only to send him smashing into the ground with all the strength the empowered limb of shadow could muster. Nor did Vincent do it once either as he drove the per naturally tough Ascendant through the warehouse floor and into the dirt beneath it over and over again until his screaming stopped and he hung completely limp in his grasp.
"Stop! Please…stop!" A voice shouted in the silence that followed, one that a surprised glance later told Vincent that it had come from a terror stricken man with his hands held straight up. A pose that was shared by three other people who stood just a dozen or so feet away from a hard breathing Norin.
"We all surrender.” The man added the moment that Vincent's eyes landed on him. "Just please... please don't kill us."