Chapter 75: The Soul of Many

The urges had been distracting but he had shut them out and pushed them down during the expansion of the dome. He wondered if he could get the aperture to extend all the way around him even through the ground below. But that was for him to worry about later. Right now, he felt a little rung out.

He had focused so intently on extending the dome over him he missed what had happened in the process. Now using his mind and Soul, he jumped into his Soul control room and attempted to view what he missed. He was able to play back his view from his mental image of the manifestation of his Spiritual dome. What he saw was fascinating and slightly unnerving. Within the slow spreading of the dome, Trint had been unaware of the manifestation of creatures within the area of the dome. At first, it was miniature versions of Pneuma’s forms they had experienced together. But soon they became ones he’d never seen before but he knew intrinsically they were clearly powerful versions of Pneuma able to wreck carnage in a battlefield or an Instance. Then when the dome had reached halfway the images began to contain other human forms and some were people he knew from his life or movies. The final quarter of the dome that closed behind his body, introduced the stuff of nightmares and scary movies. Some Trint recognized and some were new to him. But all of them were moving around and some stared hungrily at his companions.

After seeing the new Soul creatures and their hunger, he flipped back to his physical form, and all the while he held the dome around himself. He was now aware of all the miniature Pneuma forms, people, and each nightmare creature behind him. They were the source of the hunger, but they were also familiar, and he felt connected to them. With a delicate effort, he attempted to fuel one with his Soul. He picked one of the first forms he saw Pneuma take. When they first transformed and Pneuma protected him by slaughtering the murdering band of filth, early on in their journey. As he did, he pictured a tube-like hose, connecting his body to the mini form. When that connection was complete nothing happened. He had other ideas and tried several. The last thing he tried, was to radiate from his body and pushed a pulse from his Soul outward. He was able to send a pulse like a ripple across a still pond. But instead of targeting the one creature the ripple passed each of the waiting forms.

Suddenly Trint’s companions who were spread out on the top of the pillar, were pushed as if by an exploding wind. They flew out far beyond the edge of the pillar and out into the air. Trint was left sitting on the pillar and opened his eyes to seeing the many miniature creatures from his mental image of his Soul dome. Now they were full-sized and spread out for several hundred feet around him. As soon as he saw them manifest, he knew he needed to stop the rippling energy leaving his Soul. The rippling power was fueling and strengthening the creatures. He tried to grab hold of the wave of Soul energy he released. At first, it was like trying to stop a crashing wave. But in his mind, he built of one small dam after another. To control and manage where the outflow went and how far out it could pass. Soon he blocked the expression of Soul, having created different layers and limiting their permeability. But it seemed that enough had passed out of him that the forms were not only fully formed but were showing great indications of power. He could feel the Soul-empowered creatures flex as reality rippled around each of them. They were standing like statues around him that radiated power. It all reflected different aspects of his psyche, his will, and his heart. At least where they were full of motion and animation in his mind, here they were just still and lifeless.

“Stop, what are you doing?” Bitain’La shouted, floating in-between creation after creation of Trint’s to get close to him. “Focus, think of me as a friend. You can trust me.”

As she had gotten to the platform itself, the closest of the creations had shaken their stillness to bar her advance towards Trint. And two of the nightmare creatures from behind him had passed from behind his shoulders to hovering out in front of him. The sight of them gave him a jolt of fear and adrenaline. The autonomic response caused more of the Soul creations to animate, and the two nightmares took that as their cue and shot toward the elderly mentor.

She was incredibly fast but there were several dozen creatures that surrounded her from all angles. As she sent several powerful attacks and bursts of Soul energy out at her closing attackers, Trint felt his Soul ripple like a stone thrown into a pond. It didn’t hurt but he was aware of the attacks as if each one landed on his body. The blows knocked the creations back and some went flying but one of the created forms shaped like Pneuma and one of the nightmares landed piercing strikes, with claws and teeth. Trint’s fear of unintentionally killing her became real as he felt her blood coat the creature's forms.

With a new effort and power, he didn’t know he had, he pulled with all his available will and screamed, “Stop!” With the will and scream, every creature stilled, and they withdrew to surrounding Trint. “Return!” At his command, the creations flowed back to the mental image of his surrounding Soul dome. He also realized they simultaneously now resided in his Soul space.

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Pneuma, Arneala, and Ele’Azar rushed in at the disappearance of Trint’s Soul avatars. Pneuma rushed to Trint and the other two went to check on the female mentor.

“That was incredible and a bit scary,” Pneuma whispered as they both looked on as Bitain’La was brought back to the top of the stone pillar. She looked disoriented but her wounds were healing at a visible rate, leaving only holes where the punctured claws had pierced her. They jumped to conversing in their joint Soul Space.

“What was scary about it to you? I’m sure you recognized some of those,” Trint asked his friend.

“Yeah, some of those were things I was or became long before we met but those creatures hidden in the darkness behind your back, wow! But all of that just appeared with no warning. All of us were thrown from our own meditations and I was overwhelmed with pressure like I was being crushed. It decreased after I was thrown beyond your other minions. Then when they started moving, I felt real fear. I haven’t felt that in many years. Trint, I don’t know how to explain it but for a moment, I knew that I was going to die. Then with the creatures gone so was the fear. I think you lost control for a bit, and you have some creepy demons up in your brain. Ones even I don’t like. And I saw your face and the fear you had. That reaction caused those things to protect you.”

“I don’t really know what all of those were, or where they came from. But now they are spread out, roaming in our Soul Space. But they are also still around me in the invisible space around my physical body. I feel them but I would have to power them to have them manifest again.” Pneuma immediately scanned his surroundings. But then seeing nothing and sensing the same he looked back to Trint.

“What do you mean, still around you?” Pneuma apprehensively asked.

“Well, there seems to be a connection to my Soul through my Mind. I have a mental image of my Soul that projects around me. It’s not the same as being in the Soul space but it also is filled with those creatures. I need to get somewhere isolated and learn to control that before trying it around more people.”

“So do you think she will be okay?” Arneala asked Ele’Azar.

“Yes, I’m fine. That genius idiot,” Bitain’La spat out a wad of blood and wiped her chin free of a bit that dripped down and spattered her robe. “I think you took my instruction and ran far beyond the scope of what I was intending. How did you manifest so much and animate it all at once?” Her tone of frustration bled into one of genuine excited interest.

Trint spent the next hour explaining to them his whole process of opening an aperture then becoming aware of creatures and forms inhabiting the Mindscape view of his Soul.

“This is fascinating. The application if it can be utilized by others is an exciting new area of Soul advancement,” Ele’Azar was buzzing with giddiness now too.

“Can we spend some more time attempting to replicate his results?” Arneala asked.

“It would be wise if we hope to repeat his results, to try for it now, while the image and explanations are fresh,” Bitain’La agreed. “Everyone besides you Trint. You can meditate, sleep, and go to your Soul Space, but don’t try what you did for now. We need to learn more or get you away from others till we figure out how to help you control them.”

“I agree with that assessment and would like to travel deeper into the woods and try again,” Trint hoped his suggestion would allow him to explore this ability more.

“Please heed my caution,” the aged female mentor pleaded, “We will help find you an isolated place to train but we can try that tomorrow. If you must explore it more, then don’t flood the constructs with any power. But I would ask that you instead attempt what you did with Arneala last night. Try to observe our efforts and assist with your Soul from within your Soul Space. You might be able to help us achieve better results. I will offer myself as the first for you to attempt helping.”

“That is another area I wish to learn more about,” Trint agreed as it touched on another of his new Profession and Soul abilities. “I will see what assistance I can offer.”

With that they all settled in for more meditation and focused on the example of Trint’s explosive release of Soul constructs. Hoping to see results without the dangerous side effects now that they knew what to watch for.

Trint jumped into his Soul with Pneuma. They spent time finding and forming connections to Ele’Azar and Bitain’La. Once those were confirmed Pneuma went back to focusing on his own growth in manifesting his Soul in his Mind’s eye.

Trint then followed the connection from his Soul Space to Arneala’s. He found an image of her seated by the fire in a meditative pose. He stood behind her and lightly touched the top of her head. His vision shifted. The sphere they had all focused on in their mind’s eye was hovering over her lap in a fuzzy outline.

The sphere wasn’t there till he touched the top of her head. It now held a picture of the room Trint was currently in, but it was void of everything except the floor and a dim light where the fireplace should be.

He carefully reached down and tapped the top of the globe in her hands. The top rested about at her chin level but when he touched it nothing happened. He sent a request with his will to hers. In effect, he asked if he could help. There was a feeling of affirmation. With the confirmation received Trint pushed with his Soul Scope, the power to influence his own Soul. The ever-expanding Scope of his Soul began to flood into Arneala’s Soul. At first, he sent too much and there was resistance and hesitation from her. He decreased the outflow, and a synergy was immediately apparent as her mental image in her lap took on the exact detail of the room of her Soul Space.

After that detail snapped into place. Trint allowed his attention to relax from the sphere to the room he was in. He had a sinking feeling in his gut as he realized something was standing right behind him.