Standing on the outskirts of the forest, the trees seemed to be taller than they really were, seemingly leaning over like a predator looking to pounce on an unsuspecting prey. The darkness that the trees held seemed to gobble up any light, creating the illusion of a gaping maw that consumed everything even light.

I didn’t pay any attention to this, this forest ate light, but I ate the sun itself. I am the propagator of true darkness, so this cheap knockoff meant nothing to me. What seemed to make this darkness even worth mentioning was this divide between it and the outside world. The line of trees seemed to end about two and a half klicks away from the wall creating this weird plain in between “civilization” and this cornerstone of wilderness. It was such a stark divide, and if one was sensitive enough, they could feel this charged energy between the two forces, like a tension that was simply waiting to snap and unleash the very gates of hell upon Aachen.

I paid this no mind as I slipped in-between the trees and into the darkness that laid beyond. I didn’t go that deep, as there was no need, the darkness would protect me better then any distance could. Just to be sure, I had my praetorians revert to their Void knight forms and slip into the shadows to keep an eye out for me.

I would need silence and some privacy in completing my experiments. I never knew I had such a side to me, but the very thought of discovering knew things left such a deep impression on me. I would figure out the secrets of this world before it was swept away by me, taking this very world apart piece by piece, element by element if needed.

Placing her down as carefully as possible, I sat cross legged just a hands breath away. After quickly checking her mental state just know I knew that she would be out for a very long time, maybe weeks unless there was some form of stimulation to her psyche.

Closing my eyes, I retreated to my own mind scape. It was hazy here, with pieces of the Void floating around, fluorescing with bright and beautiful colors. It truly was some of the most beautiful things. Making my way through these flowers of the Void, I finally reached my destination.

In the deepest recesses of my mind there was a beautiful white gazebo overlooking this flower field, sitting on one of the benches there was a beautiful white specter. This specter had no real form, instead it appeared as a beautiful white flame. This was the small sliver of the woman’s soul I had captured earlier. Approaching, I simply sat down on the same bench but on the other end. In my mindscape we could communicate, but I didn’t say anything.

Simply not saying anything, I just sat down and viewed the flower field with her. The sky was pitch black, yet the flowers glowed with such vibrancy that it seemed to reflect off the very sky. The swayed, seemingly fluttering about in an imaginary soft breeze. It was peaceful, and it was calm. Quietly, I felt the specter divert its gaze from the field of flowers onto me. To call it a pure white wasn’t completely true, even know flashes of purple would appear and then fizzle out on the surface of this specter.

“What are you?”

Her voice seemed to float its way over to me, a whisper but it reached me, nevertheless. I wasn’t exactly expecting this question, but it made sense. I no longer considered myself human, and this mindscape was way too barren to be considered one belonging to a human. People’s mindscapes were filled with their thoughts, regrets, emotions, and memories. But my mindscape was clear, filled with an endless flower field save for this one gazebo.

Nodding my head, I simply replied, “I am simply Amos.”

Returning to silence, I felt her gaze return to the flower field. I’m not sure how long the silence remained, but eventually it was broken once again. Her gaze returning to me, she simply stated, “I am Unn.” Another plain statement, but while I had told the truth, she had not revealed the truth to me.

Shaking my head, I simply reminded her, “There isn’t much you can hide from me, labels mean nothing to me. Human not human, religious, not religious, piousness and heresy. These are all simply labels and hold no meaning to me. Unn is what your handler called you, and by extension you began to refer to yourself as that. But in the same way this imperium refers to itself as pious, as holy yet they tossed you away like a broken toy. Labels mean nothing, especially when faced with the truth.”

She didn’t respond, and at some point, she had looked away. The silence returned, but there wasn’t much to it. Instead, it was a hollow silence, one of reflection and self-doubt. Without looking at me words left her mouth that couldn’t be taken back, “I want to die. More then that, we are taught that once we die our soul is returned to him, and we are allowed to bask in his glory before we are reborn to fight for him once more. But I’m tired, so tired. I want to fade away into nothingness.”

I knew the answer to the question she was really asking, but it would be something she would need to decide for herself. Letting the conversation bask in silence for a little longer, I weighed my words carefully.

“Death comes for us all eventually, it’ll taint one, it’ll taint two. Death is something you must come to terms with at some point. What you want isn’t death, what you want is freedom. Freedom to do what you want, free from responsibility. But your right, that isn’t something someone who is alive can accomplish. Responsibility for some is their reason for living, others it’s the chain that keeps them anchored there. The old me wanted an honorable death, one that meant something. Probably in a similar fashion I wanted death, I wanted to be remembered for something. But I’m no longer that same person, I have been reborn.” Finally meeting her gaze, I stared right into the very depths of her soul. “There is a meaning out there, and you can be delivered onto a true responsibility, or you can ignore this purpose, and I can give you the freedom you so crave. You can hold onto the shackles of individuality for now and help free others. Or you can gain your freedom now, becoming one with the Void, gaining what you seek.”

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I didn’t force her hand, with or without her it was all the same to me. But I could see it deep within her, she probably wasn’t completely aware of it now. But there was still a part of her that didn’t want to die yet, the part of her that felt her death was still undeserved, that she hadn’t earned the right to rest easily. Seemingly thinking about it once again quietly asked, “For how long?”

“Until all are one.”

This response seemed to surprise her, as there was a flickering within her soul.

“Am I trapped here?”

“No, you aren’t, after this I will wake up the rest of you. You can give me your answer whenever, but once you decide there is no turning back. Serve me and I can give you glorious purpose and meaning to your demise. Think on it”

And with those parting words, I moved out of the gazebo and made my way out of my mindscape, to deliver on my promise of awaking her conscious fully.

Opening my eyes wasn’t that jarring of an experience, this forest was just as dark as ever, but there was still more then enough light for me to see. “Unn’s” face was as plain as ever, not a single discernable emotion on her face. Waking her up was a simple exercise, all I needed to do was stimulate her consciousness. With a single thought, “Unn” seemed to wriggle uncomfortable, like she was fighting to stay asleep, but I couldn’t allow that. Flicking her forehead with my finger, her eyes bolted open as she gripped her forehead.

Looking even more startled, she realized she was missing her right arm. It really was a rough way to wake back up. Glaring at me like I had been the one to remove her arm she sent me a death stair.

Unperturbed, I was more fascinated in what had become of her. I had put a large amount of Void within that flick. She hadn’t announced it yet, but she had accepted the position I had offered. She was no something that the Void would consume, instead it would cooperate with her. She was no longer “Unn”, and probably wasn’t exactly human anymore either.

“So, Amos, where exactly are we?”

Looking at her through my mask, I didn’t know exactly how to respond. Instead of reaching into her mind, I simply left a message with the part of her soul that was still within me. To my surprise, she refused to take the chunk of her soul back.

“You’re mute? Then I will be your voice, just send your thoughts to the part of me you still have, I will talk for you.”

Shifting my mask to its silvery form, I patted her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs up. For better or for worse, a partnership had formed.

Pointing behind her, I had my Void knights show themselves, one by one all five of them showed themselves. They were as impressive as always, emerging from the shadows silently yet still seemingly carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Stepping up to them, I greeted each one, and in turn introduced them each to her.

Smiling at each and everyone of them, she simply waved and said, “I’m Amos’s voice, but you can call me Salome!”

Nodding to myself, I had made a good partner. I could feel the charisma radiating off her, it was coming off her so strongly it seemed to manifest itself in a glow. My eyes widened when I finally noticed, she was using the Void in her speech, enhancing it and creating an almost bewitching aura.

Shaking my head at her, I let her know I was rolling my eyes at her.

“Look, can’t you just be proud of how quickly I figured out my abilities!? I feel like you’re not appreciating me. Hmmm?”

Ignoring her, I snapped my fingers, and understanding me, my Void Knights turned themselves inside out, revealing their praetorian forms once more.

“Why don’t they have any weapons?”

My reveling was quickly interrupted by the rude interruption of Salome, glaring at her, it really was an issue I needed to fix.

“You know I can only see your dead eyes with that mask, right? Why are they so expressionless are they fake?”

Ignoring her, I turn and make my way out of the forest with my praetorians.

“Wait, hey don’t ignore me! Where are you going? Come back! I was just trying to help! I have a stash of weapons that I can give you if you apologize!”

Turning back at her, I pointedly looked at the stump of her right arm and her dirtied look. After waking up she had been surprised about her missing limb but had quickly moved past it. Wait, did she think I was the one who took her arm.

“That’s right! What did you do with my arm? Give it back, asshat”

“What do you mean you found me like that? I remember having it before, then what happened to it Mr. genius man hmm?”

Startled, this meant I wasn’t the first to find her or someone had erased a portion of her memory. I deeper examination would need to be conducted. Deciding to ignore it for now, I simply asked her to show me the way.

“Jerk, you better get me a better arm or give me back my old one”

Grumbling nonsense to herself, she pushed past me and made her way to the fortress wall. Simply attributing the detachment from her physical self as embracement of the Void, I simply focused on how she would get us back into the fortress.

Leaving the fortress was as simple as leaving, but entering couldn’t be so simple, especially with how unknown and supposedly dangerous that forest was. While I was in my mindscape, my Void Knights dispatched a couple of animals resembling wolves, but they were extremely weak, and couldn’t have posed much of a threat to a normal soldier.

Whatever, it just meant there would be more for me to discover as time went on.

Smiling for what felt like the millionth time, I willingly followed behind Salome, happy that I had found both a great partner and a path forward…

Wolves of Demise

Wolves of demise make up their home in the forest on the southern most border of the Uurak Empire. They are extremely easily defeated by soldiers but are extremely deadly to those who are sainted. While everything living is connected to the living, outside of humans there are very few creatures who can interact with the netway. Wolves of Demise can’t interact with the netway in the normal way but have the ability instead to disrupt access to the netway, robbing the sainted of their powers. While to a well-trained sainted this isn’t an issue, as they don’t need their powers to defeat a simple wolf (as outside of this power they are just wolves). But to the newly sainted or cocky they are simply overrun and brutally vivisected, giving the wolves the surname of demise.