Azalon attentively watched the 10 things that were in his Soul Root.  His tennis ball sized Soul was still rotating slowly around itself without a care of what’s happening around it. But the Soul of his Petrified Spirit stopped revolving around his Soul the moment the 7 Rings showed themselves.

                The 7 Rings were solidifying into their original shapes from their respective shattered parts all around the Soul Root. Small beams of different colors were unceasingly merged into those 7 Rings from the corners of the Soul Root.  In between the bright colored Rings, a small Silver ball was also revolving around his Soul in tandem with the rotation of the Soul.

                Finally the last beam of light flashed before merging into one of the 7 Rings. As soon as the last speck of light merged with its corresponding Ring, all the Rings suddenly flashed brightly, making Azalon involuntarily close his eyes. But as that was not his physical body but his mental awareness, he could not cut out the scene playing in front of his, even though he closed his eyes.

                The flash of colors lasted for a small moment before it ended. Azalon inhaled suddenly as he stared at the mesmerizing play of colors that was surrounding his Soul.

                At present, there were 10 different things in his Soul Root, as opposed to the time he examined his Soul Root 

before taking the Demon Cultivation Pill. The big black Sphere that was his Soul was currently surrounded by 9 objects in an irregular fashion but Azalon could feel that there’s some logic behind the random arrangement of the 9 objects.

                A grey sphere was the immediate neighbor of his Soul, and he knew that the gray Sphere was the Soul of his Petrified Spirit. So, obviously that takes the priority in the arrangement, as the Spirit was the manifestation of one’s Soul. But what made his happy was the next object that was placed just behind the Spirit Soul.

                A small sphere that was around the size of a marble was revolving slowly around his Soul in an orbit placed around 20° angle with the horizontal plane. The sphere was Silver colored and one could see small specks of Gold splashed on the surface of the Sphere. A smile flashed on the face of Azalon as he looked at the Silver Sphere.

                The next place was a Purple Ring that was placed vertically to the horizontal plane, and Azalon could see faint traces of Electric currents running through the Ring. The next place was two Rings that were placed in the form of an X making a 45° angle with the horizontal plane, and the two Rings were pure White and pitch Black in color. The placement of these two Rings was as if the two Rings were mutually co-existing as well as suppressing each other.

                The remaining 4 Rings were placed in the same way as the White and Black Rings, but the only difference was that these 4 Rings were placed horizontally and all the 4 Rings were parallel to each other. A bright Red Ring and a pale Blue Ring took up the top most and the bottom positions of the arrangement. The Green Ring and the Bronze Ring were placed in between these two Rings, but these Green and Bronze Rings were constantly moving up and down in a particular rhythm, as if they were being influenced by the pair of Rings placed above and below them.

*BBBBBOOOOOMMMM*

                As soon as the last Ring clicked in its assigned place, the entire Soul Realm shook. The ground trembled and the entire interior of the Soul Root became chaotic. Azalon stabilized himself and turned his head just to see thick black liquid oozing out his Soul along with bluish green gas from within. The black liquid stayed on the surface of his Soul, but the gas collected into a small cloud that floated above his Soul.

                The black liquid oozing from the Soul immediately turned into thin chains that quickly entangled the 9 objects revolving the Soul. The 9 chains circled them and tightly held them in place, not allowing them to even to move an inch. Suddenly the chains started reeling themselves dragging the 9objects along with them.

                The first one to finish reeling in was the one entangling the Soul of his Petrified Spirit. As soon as the gray sphere neared the Soul, a small part of the bluish green cloud above his Soul and surrounded the gray sphere. The black chain continued to reel in, and the distance between his Soul and the Soul of his Spirit continued shortening. Eventually, both the Souls touched each other.

Pain…

Intense Pain…

Mind numbing Pain…

                Azalon, who was watching all this happen with intense curiosity, suddenly felt waves of pain assault his consciousness. The pain came in waves with the next wave more intense that the previous one. He screamed as he felt his consciousness crack under that intensity of pain.

‘What’s going on? Didn’t that scroll given by that bastard recorded that the process of the Soul Repair was a painless procedure? This is called painless? AAHHHHH…’ Azalon did not have the mental capacity to continue on his train of thought as he tried to hold together his collapsing consciousness.

                The pain finally let up when the gray sphere was completely assimilated by his Soul. As Azalon observed this through his beat up awareness, he came to a simple conclusion.

‘Sure enough. This process is generally painless as this procedure is meant for Damaged Souls. But mine is definitely not a Damaged Soul. You can even call mine a stable and a grown Soul. So when the Spirit Soul is tried to be assimilated into the Soul, the empty and damaged space for that does not exist in my Soul. Nevertheless, the Soul will be forcefully assimilated and the process produces immense pain during that time.’

                And Azalon watched the lined up 8 objects behind the assimilated gray sphere, he broke up in cold sweat. ’Don’t tell me I have to go through that pain again for 8 times? No no no no no no no… I will definitely die or worse enough I will become an idiot under that pain… No… Please stop it, please stop it…’

                But as the name of the pill suggests, it continued what it was meant to do just like a Demon cutting down its enemies… Relentless… Merciless… Azalon watched in horror as the Silver sphere neared his Soul for the assimilation…

                Screams… Shrill screams… Howling and whimpering… Vicious curses that can make one’s ears bleed… Cries and gut rendering Sobs… all kinds of sounds resounded through the Soul Root as one color after another slowly disappeared, finally rendering the interior of the Soul Root bleak and dark.

                Azalon was just short of going insane. The nine bouts of pain was nothing he ever felt in both his lives. And believe it; he had his share of both intense physical and mental pains. But this time, it was on a whole new level.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

                Under this slow and agonizing torture, Azalon’s psyche underwent some minute and subtle changes that will affect his temperament and behavior later on…

                He was tired. His mind was filled with this single thought, as he wanted to sleep and never wake up. He was tired and sleepy, but he still listened to a small voice that whispered at the back of his mind. If he goes to sleep right now, he will definitely never wake up. Azalon tried his best to stay awake. He was sure that his entire nervous system was overloaded and he hoped that whatever damage that happened was not permanent.

                He slowly stimulated his numb nerves and tried to feel his way around his body. Every single thread of nerve on his body felt stretched and would snap any minute. He carefully crawled around his body making sure that all the nervous connections were present. There were present all right, but he had a feeling that it will take a long time before the damage heals.

                His awareness finally reached the Soul Root, and the dark and bleak interior welcomed him. He simply did not care. He wanted to sleep. As he laid down on the ground, leaning his back against the wall and lifting his head to observe a sphere floating above, a single thought was running through his mind continuously.

‘Make it fast. Make it fast. Make it fast…’

                Under Azalon’s listless gaze, a black sphere was floating above his head, before a small bulge started appearing on its surface. The bulge slowly swelled up before another small bulge appeared on another part of the surface. They continued to appear one after the other. Just as the last bulge appeared, *Pop* the first bulge separated from the surface before it changed into a small gray sphere with number of black and bluish greens lines on its surface. The gray sphere then slowly started revolving around the black sphere at a certain distance.

                The next bulge separated and changed into a bright Silver sphere with gold specks, but the black and bluish green lines on its surface were just 5 or 6 compared to the dozens on the gray sphere. The Silver sphere too started to revolve around the black sphere but at a further distance away from the position of the gray sphere.

                The process continued as a Purple sphere emerged next. Two spheres of Pure White and Pitch Black with same sizes appeared at the same time, before taking their respective orbits and orientations. Brown sphere, Green sphere, Blue sphere and Red sphere took the next places of the order, emerging with different sizes and were arranged into their respective positions around the black sphere.

                What made the whole process interesting was that as each sphere emerged from the black sphere, the silhouette could be seen within the sphere, and a faint sound will resound in the Soul Root, as it felt as if the silhouette was the one that made that sound.

                But Azalon was not in the mind set to enquire those strange phenomena as his battered and worn out mind was filled with a single wish, a wish that the whole process will speed up and finish. He felt tired and he still had lot of work before he could sleep to wake up. If he doesn’t complete them, then he can sleep too, but may not bother to wake up. So, he desperately prayed for the entire ordeal to finish quickly.

                His wish came true fast enough… it did not take long enough for the last Embryo emerge from his Soul before assuming its assigned place. As soon as it happened, Azalon felt a faint rush of Energy vitalize his battered consciousness, as the tiredness eased up a little bit under the refreshing Energy rush.

                He remembered that this should be the Soul Bridge forming between his Soul and the physical world through his Spirit. He immediately concentrated on that soothing Energy and sure enough he reappeared within the bubble that separated him from the surrounding Spirit Energy.

                As he appeared within that bubble, his apparition flashed once before 9 spheres, or more accurately, 9 Soul Embryos appeared within that bubble. He watched with some amazement at the 9 Soul Embryos that appeared. He could see vague shadows within the murky spheres and he could feel a kind of connection forming between him and the 9 Embryos.

                But he could only feel 2 strong connections. He could faintly feel the other 7, but that was all. It was like the 7 connections were with him and far away at the same time. But Azalon did not dwell on it long as he was still feeling pretty tired, so he ignored the 7 faint connections and concentrated on the 2 strong connections.

                The first and the stronger of the 2 connections was naturally the Soul of his Petrified Spirit. He concentrated on the gray Soul Embryo and prepared to form the rudimentary Soul Bridge so as to nurture the Soul Embryo to hatch using the Spirit Energy. Only after the Spirit Awakens, can he form the complete Soul Bridge and start his cultivation. Until then he can only do so much.

                Using the connection between them, he stimulated the Life Force to form a protective membrane around the Soul Embryo and at the same time manipulating the Demon Cultivation Pill’s medicinal vestiges to form the role of adhesive to hold up the membrane around the Soul Embryo. As soon as that was completed, he quickly urged the Spirit to form a Soul Bridge with him.

                Under his urging, a small tunnel started forming starting at the boundary of the bubble and ending at the Soul Embryo. But the final connection between the Spirit and his Soul was still not formed as the Soul was still in its Embryonic stage. Only when the Spirit Awakens can the link between the Spirit and the Cultivator can be completed.

                He then left the gray Embryo and shifted his concentration from the gray Embryo to the Silver one. His mind slightly relaxed as he stared at the small silver sphere that so much resembled her original appearance. He gently smiled as he shook his head, and quickly finished forming the Soul Bridge once again with the Silver Embryo as the medium.

                Azalon then tried to repeat the process with the remaining 7 Embryos floating around him, but no matter what he could not acquire a single response from the 7 Embryos.

“Hmmm… something’s missing here. But that’s for another time. This thing has finally completed. As I formed the Soul Bridges, once they stabilize, I should wake up. I wonder how many days passed by. Come on, finish already. This headache is killing me.” Azalon muttered with some resentment as he rubbed his temples grimacing due to the splitting headache…