Soulburned: The School of Souls

Chapter 29: The Stowaway

Hello again, Adler. Entity said.

Adler groaned in pain. His head felt like it was going to explode.

Sorry for barging in like this... I needed a place to lie low for a moment. I didn't have much choice, I'm afraid. Glad to see you conscious! For a bit there I thought I'd completely scrambled your psyche when I did that.

"Entity." Adler croaked, "What did-what did you just do to me?"

"Adler?" Thale said.

I just had to push you out of the way a bit, to make room.

"What do you mean, pushed me out of the way? What is this?"

Stop talking out loud, dingus. The beefcake can hear you.

Adler opened his eyes. The ground was rhythmically bopping below him.

He was... floating?

"Adler? Can you hear me?" Thale asked.

It took him another moment to realize that he was being carried.f

"Thale, Void. Yes." Adler croaked, "Put me down."

Thale complied, proping Adler up against the Stone wall surrounding the Iris's campus.

Adler was surprised

"Void, Adler, what happened?!" Thale asked "Was it the

"Adler. Who is Entity?"

Uh oh, don't answer that! Not to him! Void! I didn't realize you were only a few inches away from the walking Shrive Blade!

Adler blinked.

"What?" he asked Thale.

Thale stared hard at Adler.

"Was that Thymos?" Thale demanded.

It was at this moment that Adler realized he was once again restrained in the ouroboros chains, and that Thale was gripping his sword, very tightly. Thale had been gracious enough to take them off while they were mixing potions. Alder supposed that the sudden blast of force from his eyes was enough to put Thale back on the defensive.

Alder tried to read the man's emotions but came up with nothing.

Oh, sorry, that's not going to work while I'm in here. I've displaced most of your Logos. There's enough of you left in here to operate, but that's pretty much it.

Why are you here Entity? You said you were going to find me. Somthing tells me that this isn't what you had in mind.

"No, it wasn't Thymos. It was the majority of my Logos being pushed out of me."

Thale frowned.

"What? How?"

"I don't know." Adler said, "Void, it hurt though... I think it had somthing to do with those lights."

Thale looked up at the Spire, which still shone brightly.

"You think Lyra's Trial has something to do with this?" Thale asked.

"I- I don't know." Adler said.

Thale looked at Adler again, trying to discern if he was telling the truth. hen seemed to come to a conclusion.

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"We're going to go see the Archmage." Thale said.

From far above them. A woman screamed.

"Lyra!" Thale cried. Thale pulled Adler to his feet. "Come on. We're headed to the top of the Tower."

Start talking, spirit.

Listen, My usual host is... unavailable at the moment, and I had to make a split-second decision, which is why I had to crash in like this. It was this or oblivion for me, Adler. What would you have done?

Probably the same thing... But why? Why me?

Because I've been in here before, to be fair, you had a bit more room to share then, what with the Logos potion still running through your veins... but I still assumed that I'd be able to fit.

Thale led Adler into the tower, pulling the Sorceror along behind him at a breakneck pace. When they reached the main corridor, Thale surprised Adler by taking a right, instead of a left.

"Spiral's the other way, Thale," Adler said.

Thale furrowed his brow.

"Why would we take the stairs?"

They entered one of the Teleportation nodes.

Thale pulled his amulet out of his pocket and promptly pressed it against the higher-numbered rune.

There was a moment of extreme pressure and a slight pop in Adler's ears as they materialized a few hundred feet in the air.

Damn, lover boy doesn't wait around, does he?

"Come on, it's still a few floors up."

Thale strode out of the Telportation Node. Adler followed.

How do I meet with you? Adler asked. You agreed to train me in Enchantment.

Through my host, she's a student.

Your host is a Student?

Adler had expected whoever was harboring the Enitty to be a grossly powerful wizard, someone on par with the Archmage. Void, he'd even toyed with the Iddea of The Archmage being the host, but that made no sense.

Who is she?

Yes, a student. Lyra Mornstag. First Tier Summoner, but she's working on that right now. And it's just Entity, not The Entity. Gross.

Wait, really? I only said that to Thale as a distraction!

And here I thought you were just abnormally perceptive. I mean, you did see the lights show, right? You didn't think that that might be related to your sudden onset headache?

They reached the uppermost floor of the Iris. A ladder was hanging from a metal hatch in the ceiling.

Thale began to climb.

"Thale!" Adler shouted.

The guardian looked down at the Sorceror.!Alder held up his still-chained hands,

Thale swore, then dropped the Key down to Alder. It bounced off the floor with a loud clang. THalehurridaly snathced it from the ground, and pressed it against his manacles. They slid apart.

"It's locked!" Thale shouted down to Adler. "It has a wizard mark on it!"

Alder looked up at the incensed young man, dumbfounded by his chosen course of action. He grabbed the ladder and started pulling himself after the Gaurdian. His shouts echoed down through the entire Sprial, although, by the time his cries reached the bottom, Adler was sure that they were distorted beyond recognition.

"I'm on my way!"

Adler climbed. His head still felt like it was going to split open.

Any insight on what we're about to walk into?

Lyra just entered her second Trial, but when her summoning teacher started chanting I got bad vibes. It felt like some sort of Banishment spell. If I'd stayed... I don't think it would have ended well.

So you latched onto the nearest liferaft.

Yes. In this instance, you.

This will not be happening again, Entity.

Oh, of course not! Not without your permission of course.

No. This isn't happening again. I'll make sure of it. If whatever this Profesor was casting is so terrifying to you, then I'll learn it. I am not a buy for you to cling to.

I- I understand. Entity said.

Good.

Adler reached Thale.

"Can you move to the side?"

Thale swung around to the other side of the ladder nimbly.

Adler climbed up and examined the runes.

Lyra channeled her logos in here, and here.

Adler copied the moments the Entity was telegraphing to him in his mind.

The hatch clicked, then opened.

He climbed up.

Lyra's body floated in the air, suspended by colorful arcs of lighting.

Thale climbed out of the hole.

"Lyra!" he shouted.

Thale rushed towards her, the Shrive Blade in his hand bursting into flames.

"Wait!" An elderly man in a professor's cloak shouted, "Stop! You can't interfere! If you pull her out of there now, her mind will be left behind. You'd be turning her into a breathing corpse!"

Thale froze.

Entity shifted, then disappeared from inside Adler's mind.

Entity?