CHAPTER 46: WEB OF DOMINION

“Go to the altar and place your hands in the designated slots,” he ordered. Julie sighed and walked toward it. It was only after she approached it, that many of its details became apparent. The Philosopher’s Stone was faceted to the center of the stone altar. Strange, runic symbols were etched into it, forming a circle around the purple gem. On each side of the altar, the symbols curved into smaller, circular patterns, creating distinct indentations where her hands were meant to rest.

Julie took a deep breath and leaned toward the altar, placing her hands on the designated areas outlined by the spellform. Almost immediately, the runic symbols flared to life—emitting a purple white light that glowed faintly in the candle-lit room.

“W-what is happening?!”

“Relax,” he said. Dr. Zerkin closed his eyes and expanded his Soul Realm toward the altar. He imagined a spellform in his mind’s eye and projected it out into the spiritual zone. “We will now begin the process of analyzing your soul. I want you to look squarely into the Philosopher’s Stone and imagine yourself entering inside the reflection shown to you.”

She took a deep breath and did as she was bid. Her emerald green eyes focused onto the magical stone. What reflected off its glass-like surface was a strange geometric shape that continuously morphed, as if it was a fractal trapped within a crystal. She focused her imagination on it to picture herself leaping inside the stone itself.

All of a sudden, the numerous scattered scented candles began to flicker. A strange breeze brushed past her skin that gave her goosebumps. She could feel the air changing, as if the altar was responding to her thoughts. She tried her best to focus.

Then, something strange happened. Her vision began to blur and unblur rapidly in a constant pulse. It felt as if she was continuously phasing into and out of existence.

“I will begin shifting the crystal,” Zerkin said. “I want you to tell me to stop when your vision unblurs completely.”

He began turning the crystal telepathically within its stone altar mound. Every subtle shift changed what Julie was seeing. Sometimes it was blurry, other times slightly more clear—it was entirely random. A faint yet misty haze always covered the pictures being shown to her.

“It's still blurry,” she voiced.

“Focus! Just tell me when to stop. We need to calibrate your Runic Existence’s position in the Beyond! Talking will break your focus!”

Julie listened to him and kept quiet. Her vision continued to shift randomly into different scenes of the same blurry fractal, shifting its shape constantly. After ten entire minutes of this, her hands which were stuck to the altar were beginning to get tired—they had almost slipped out of position due to her sweat. Still, she had to continue this—it would be a waste to stop now.

It was only fifteen entire minutes later that her vision changed to what Dr. Zerkin was talking about. Unlike previously, the mysterious geometric shape had come into total focus—her vision was no longer blurry.

“Stop,” she ordered. Zerkin did just that.

“Alright, now that it has been calibrated, let me project it.” Another spellform took hold in his mind’s eye. Suddenly, strange symbols began to manifest from all the books on the shelves surrounding the altar. It was as if raw knowledge was being pulled from within these ancient tomes. They began to gather above the Philosopher’s Stone from countless directions, like fish following a river’s stream.

An image began to manifest itself above the altar, flickering like a cheap hologram. Zerkin smiled back at Julie, who’s eyes were still laser focused on the purple gem at the center of the altar.

“You can see it, right?” He asked. “The strange fractal morphing in shape.”

Julie simply answered back with a, “yes.” She could see it in all its glory now—whatever it was.

“That thing is your Runic Existence. At least, a projection of how your mind understands it. We as third dimensional beings cannot perceive it fully.

“Essentially, it is how the Beyond represents your soul.”

Her eyes widened, but she kept her focus. “My… Soul?”

He nodded. “More specifically, it is your soul as projected from the Beyond. How our natural world views consciousness and how the Beyond views consciousness are two different things, after all.

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“But what you really need to focus on is what surrounds the soul.”

Julie squinted her eyes. She noticed a strange bubble or field surrounding the ever shifting fractaled Runic Existence. “What is this… Energy?”

“That is your anima,” he answered. “More specifically, the anima that is produced from your existence within the Beyond.

“We will be making a change to that anima. And a massive one. It will help us in creating your first node in the soul chain.”

Dr. Zerkin snapped his fingers—the philosopher’s stone and the magecraft on the altar deactivated. Julie’s vision returned to that of the natural world. She grasped for air, like a fish out of the water.

“Take your time, piercing the veil into the Beyond is a very difficult task. I am pretty impressed you were able to hold on for that long—most end up knocking themselves unconscious before the calibration ends.” He glanced up at the hologram which was still flickering randomly, “since we have calibrated the coordinates of your soul, this magecraft will continue to display it for us above.”

Julie stared at her Runic Existence once more. “How fascinating… To think a human’s soul looks like this…”

Zerkin nodded while grinning his twisted grin and showing his crooked teeth. “Indeed, that is why I study them! There are so many secrets to unfold…

“And your Abstract Rune is one such mystery! Now that we have completed the pre-initiation assignment, all the data should have been collected properly. We’ll be needing it to obtain the items of influence you need to forge your Soul Weapon.

“... The data should come in any moment now…” He glanced at his watch momentarily.

Out of nowhere, a light-blue hologram appeared before him, displaying a screen. A similar one appeared in front of Julie, causing her to almost trip backwards and land on the stone altar. Luckily, she caught herself before causing a catastrophe.

Squinting, she glanced at the menu screen that had appeared for her.

“Pre-initiation has been completed! Data has been forwarded.”

Huh? She was about to read the message again when the screen changed.

Abstract Rune Data

Name: Web of Dominion

Fragments: 1 (Insight)

Concepts: subjugation, arachnid’s ensnarement, traps.

Materials of Influence: Obsidian Fangs [6%], Shadowroot [24%], Demon Spider Silk [45%], Spirit Familiar Ashes [25%]

Soul Weapon Class Probabilities: Augment [10%], Object [5%], Elemental [5%], Abstract [30%], Summon [50%]

Soul Alchemy Ritual: Arachnid Web of Spirits

Julie wanted to rub her eyes to check if she was hallucinating. “Can you explain what the hell just happened?”

Dr. Zerkin ignored her and continued reading the information displayed for him. This continued on for a few more minutes until he finally lifted his head away from the holographic screen. He glanced over at Julie and smiled crazily.

“How truly marvelous. Your Soul Weapon is going to really interest me! I cannot wait to help you forge it!”

“That’s cool and all,” Julie interrupted. “But what the fuck is this floating screen?!”

“Ah… That.” He glanced back at the screen and swatted it away, causing it to disappear.

“That screen you see is called the Arcane Gnosis Interface, or AGI for short. It is a system that is connected to all members of the organization that undergo Phantasm Initiation.

“Think of it as an interactive heart monitor, but for your soul. I’m surprised they didn’t tell you about this either… What did you think you were doing in Site A3 then?”

She tilted her neck in confusion, “they said nothing about what that magecraft that was cast on me was…”

“Ugh, damn bureaucrats…” She could taste the salt escaping his tongue.

“That magecraft spell you had to undergo not only discovers traces of your soul, but it also creates a mark on your soul that allows it to connect its anima to you directly. We call this anima marking the AGI network. That is the main purpose of the Soul Forge facility.”

“So then I can simply call upon this interface whenever I would like? What other features does it have?”

“Everything,” he smiled. “It’s basically a more advanced smartphone that you don’t even need to carry around. AGI is very convenient to us Phantasms who receive missions all the time—we can be notified immediately if something occurs. And it is also invisible to everyone but those who have been marked by it, meaning only Phantasms from the organization could see it.

“But its most important feature has to be its ability to monitor your Soul Chain.”

“Soul Chain?” Julie crossed her arms. “I still haven’t even forged mine yet… Why would monitoring the Soul Chain be important?”

Dr. Zerkin sighed. “Because Soul Chains are prone to collapse upon themselves.”

“What…”

“A Soul Chain, especially ones at the foundation level, usually collapses onto themself in a year or two. Others are less lucky—theirs might even collapse within a month of unlocking a Soul Weapon. The only solution to this problem is forging the next node in the Soul Chain and fusing with another abstract rune. This will restabilize the Soul Chain for a time, but the process will need to be repeated for the third node, the fourth, and each one after that.

“This is why forging a Soul Weapon is usually called the path of no return. Once you embark on this journey of reforging your own soul, there is no turning back. And even if you continue forward, salvation may not exist at the very end of it all.”