“I’ve had enough of this,” declared Evelyn. Swords manifested in the palm of both of her hands. She charged towards him but before she got the chance to attack once more, her sister grabbed her by the shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Just stop this already. All of this fighting is pointless. I…I believe that they are right.”

“Aphelia,” Lady Meredith said taken aback. “How can you say that?”

She placed a hand to her heart as she appeared to be on the verge of tears. She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. “I can feel her presence inside of me. I’ve long felt that she wishes for us to put this all to an end.” Neither her sister Evelyn nor Lady Meredith appeared pleased by her surprising perspective. “All we’ve been doing is prolonging her suffering. This is no way to live. It’s cruel and uncaring of her own desires. If given the choice, I don’t believe she would want all of this suffering to go on all for the chance that she might one day be healed especially given the untold cost.”

Evelyn began to scowl at her. “You’d have us sacrifice our own sister?”

“No, I’d have us free her.”

I’ve wondered why she was so willing to keep my discovery of this place a secret. Now I know. She’s likely felt this way for a while and hoped that maybe I or someone else would do what neither she nor them would be willing to do themselves.

As Evelyn turned to them once more ready to assault them once more, after taking several steps towards them, Aphelia summoned a sword pointing it at her back. “We cannot prolong this any longer sister.”

Evelyn inhaled and then exhaled with a face of pure assurance. “Fine then. If you’d like to die like them, then so be it.” Rather than walk towards them, she walked over to a large arcane root protruding out of the ground. She stared into it as particles of energy flowed towards it.

Lady Meredith stretched out an arm towards her with a look of fear in her eyes. “Evelyn!”

“If she is to live, then we must be willing to do everything in our own power, to ensure it.” She placed her hand directly onto the arcane root that wasn’t severed from the ground.

Violent arcane energy began to exude off every surface of her body. The ground itself shook, and her eyes were as bright as the sun itself.

Kiran looked over at Frederek who stood closest to the altar. “Take her off of it!”

He nodded his head and rushed over towards the altar. Just as he prepared to hoist the woman on the altar by her shoulders to pull her off of it, Evelyn snapped her body towards him and sprinted for him. Kiran ran towards them knowing that the power surging through Evelyn would likely be too much for someone like Frederek to defend against. He’s not going to make it if I don’t do something.

I don’t have time to think. I just have to act, and do so right now! Frederek stopped dead in his tracks as he held up his axe to block her attack. Come on, work for me dammit!

With an outstretched hand, he began to make an attempt to summon his sword. He pictured it in all of its glory within his mind from the tip all the way to the pommel of his sword. He imagined how the leather wrapped around the hilt would feel as he gripped it in his hands and the reflective sheen that this sword’s blade uniquely possessed. He focused on the characteristic of its weight and how much lighter it felt than a physically based sword.

Normally, he would use mana to summon this sword instead, but this time, he had no choice but to use his soul as an energy source. He wasn’t entirely sure how to do it, just that while he simultaneously tried to cast his sword-summoning spell, he also felt that presence within him that was so foreign to him.

Evelyn’s sword lifted into the air. Light and energy ran up and down the blade. This much power would cut right through Frederek with ease.

Yet despite the power that she attained from carelessly touching an unsevered arcane root, Kiran blocked her attack as the sword he envisioned within his mind, manifested into reality to ultimately hit up against her sword.

He deflected her strike causing even her to appear shocked as she took a step back.

“Kiran,” Yorais said breathlessly.

“I’ve got this,” he said as Evelyn screamed at him with fury.

All I have to do is buy them enough time. Then…then…

The right side of his vision went dark. Puke exited his mouth forcefully as he became forced to go to one knee. No. No. No. Come on, this…this has to work.

His sword began to dissipate but he refocused on that presence inside of himself forcing it to solidify further. He managed it, but it was like the world wanted to spin around him. The light exuding off the many arcane roots flashed erratically and the energetic particles being drawn towards them themselves nauseated him.

“You have to stop Kiran or you’re going to kill yourself!”

He understood what Yorais was saying, yet what else could he do? If I can’t protect them, then they’ll all die.

“You can all oppose me,” Evelyn stated sending more power through her swords, “but you’re merely delaying the inevitable. This pathetic little stunt is laughable.”

Someone began to grasp onto his shoulders. They leaned in closer to his left ear as he felt their long hair motion against his back. “That’s enough Kiran,” Yorais said calmly into his ear even though a menacing person stood directly ahead of them.

Kiran stopped trying to tap into this presence. His sword disappeared from reality, and he began to feel a bit better. However, more puke exited his mouth forcefully.

“We cannot remain here,” Yorais said towards Frederek. “Help him please.”

“If you think you’re going to leave, then you’re sadly mistaken.” Evelyn began approaching them once more.

This time, however, rather than him blocking her attacks, Aphelia returned the favor.

“Get out of my way!”

“Please stop this! We don’t have to fight.”

“Your kindness is nothing more than a disease.”

The two of them began to fight each other. Evelyn was fully capable of killing her sister judging by the amount of power she currently possessed, but even in this maddened and furious state that she was in, she held back against her sister who acted as a barrier between her and them.

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Frederek assisted Kiran away from the altar as the two kept fighting. Everyone gathered up as Yorais gave him an immensely wary look. “We cannot remain here. She’s gotten too powerful for any of us to handle right now.”

“We can still try to take her sister off the altar,” Silvy said.

Kiran’s sight from his right eye remained dark still. He placed his hand over it trying to see if he could perceive any motion.

There was nothing there.

He began to wipe his nose with that same hand. A ton of blood covered his palm as he examined it with his left eye that hadn’t gone blind whether temporarily or permanently like his other one.

“For his sake,” Yorais went on, “we need to leave and hurry away from here.”

“What’s the matter with him?” Lar said questioningly.

“I’ll explain once we’re safely away. For now, let’s get out of here.”

With the help of Frederek, Kiran found himself hoisted up with their big burly arms. A headache shot through his head, and he felt like his condition was worsening.

His breathing became course, and it felt like his own ribcage was shrinking. What is happening to me?

The chamber disappeared from his sight as they fled from the chamber and entered the dark cave.

“Kiran…” Lar muttered aloud as he tried spotting her running behind him and Frederek.

* * *

His consciousness went in and out. Eventually, when he awoke, he saw himself with trees all around him. His sight had yet to return in his right eye. He wasn’t even sure if it ever would.

He began to cough out blood as a panicked Yorais grasped onto him tightly. “What did I tell you?” she said quietly while uncorking a vial. She lifted it to his mouth and had him drink the contents that were quite foul tasting. She whispered furthermore as her head nearly nestled against his. “I warned you about using your own soul as a source of power. Yet you didn’t listen.”

Kiran wanted to reply, but nothing would come out. It also wasn’t due to a lack of trying, he simply speaking could only just lay there barely able to do anything himself.

Frederek, Silvy, Lar, Yorais, and even Aphelia stood around him with immense concern made obvious by their expressions. What’s Aphelia doing here? Wasn’t she…

His lips eventually managed to open, but only hot air escaped. “What’s wrong with him?” Lar asked.

She hesitated in answering knowing about the taboo nature of what he had done. “I do not wish to say.”

Lar rarely ever interacted with Yorais directly. Yet here she did due to her concern for him. “We all saw what he did in there and what happened right after. The least you can do is tell us how and why.”

“He used his own soul as a source of power.”

He had never seen such an utterly disappointed face on his companion. Her fingernails dug into her trousers. “That explains a lot then.”

“I tried warning him but he didn’t listen.”

I’m sorry. I was only trying to protect us all. I had no other choice.

He would’ve gladly defended himself, but all he could do was remain there as they stood around him.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Silvy asked.

“My hope is that he hasn’t permanently damaged himself.” Yorais bent down to him as he tried to lift his hand. He could manage to do that but it quickly fell back landing on his chest. She began to hold his hand as she remained there by his side. “You need to be strong Kiran. I’ve given you a potion that should help put you at ease, but I don’t have many more to give you. We’re going to try to make it back to Valak as soon as possible, but such a trip is going to take us a while as you know. In the meantime, we’ll do all the heavy lifting for you. Just try to remain calm. We’ll take good care of you.”

We’ve come all this way and ended in failure. And now, here I lie, unable to do anything at all.

More pain shot through his mind causing him to wince. The sight from his left eye went dark and the terror of darkness took hold no matter how much they clung to him.

* * *

“Welcome back,” a strange ominous voice said.

What? What is this? Where am I?

The voice began to laugh. There was nothing but it and only it besides his consciousness. “You’ve struggled much for such a relatively recent awakening. For one who has received the gift of life once more, you have most certainly suffered immensely already. Wouldn’t you rather things become easy for once?” Their voice began to speak more from behind him rather than in front. “Why not instead accept an offer from me, that I alone shall make that will make your life so much easier?”

An offer?

“Yes. That’s right. I offer you an opportunity to serve me and no other. Every question you wish to have answered shall be answered. And yes, that includes gaining every bit of knowledge you wish to have about your past. You will also receive immense power and do as you like in this fractured world. You need only become my disciple.”

Your disciple. A disciple to what exactly?

“To a person who wishes to fix this world.”

It was quite the offer to make to him. He’d receive lots of power and gain insight into his past. Assuming of course that they were telling the truth to him. But it meant becoming a disciple to a being he knew nothing about.

I can’t accept your offer.

“And why would that be?”

I don’t trust you.

“Trust is a fickle thing. I wouldn’t expect you to immediately take me at my word, but you’re not going to receive a better offer from anyone else. Just know that I would grant you all of your desires and much more.”

I’ll get by. I know I will.

“Will you? You’ve already died at least once. You can certainly die again and a lot sooner than you might prefer. If you were to instead serve me, the odds of you dying anytime soon will greatly diminish and you’ll even have the opportunity to live far longer than even a divine familiar.”

No thanks. Kiran didn’t want to serve someone, especially when his instincts didn’t quite feel right about whoever this person or being was. They could also make all of the claims they wanted, but he’d be taking a large risk just outright trusting this person and their offer when he was quite vulnerable.

No amount of power was worth accepting if it meant having to pay too high of a price. A price of which he assumed would require immense sacrifices from him.

“I will never understand some human’s insistence on denying what they truly desire. I have seen into your hearts. I have even seen into your souls. You are all the same and nothing will ever change that. To deny such an offer is to deny yourself.”

I’m not whatever you assume I am.

They began to laugh and motion around him in the void-like place. “Humanity is nothing more than a slave to itself. Humanity is shackled to their own biology. You would fight against it, but neither you nor any other human can triumph over it. But I suppose it is easier to accept delusion rather than what is true. I will give you another chance however to accept this opportunity. There will not be another, I promise you.”

Kiran could be considered to be a lot of things. But he didn’t consider himself someone who’d just accept the first offer made to him in a strange place by an ominous voice.

I don’t want anything more to do with you.

They didn’t immediately respond. Neither did he sense them move around as they had been doing so this entire time. “Fine then. If you’d rather wallow in ignorance and deny what truly lies in your heart and soul, then you shall be afforded this. Just know that you will regret making this decision.”

If I end up regretting it, then so be it. At least it won’t come at the cost of my own self.