Guinevere clutched to my neck as I ran. Now that I knew what I was feeling there was a sense of urgency to get there faster. I didn’t go at a full sprint, though, more of a jog. Kallin moved beside me, but he didn’t so much run as glide which made sense considering he was basically a ghost.

“You can’t save him,” Voidra said, her voice so soft only I could hear it. “Souls don’t come back from the Void.”

“I did,” I said.

“You were never really here,” Karnen objected. “You always pulled yourself up or got pulled back before you went here all the way.”

“My point is there is a chance for him,” I said.

“Not to be as he was,” Voidra said. “At best he could end up like us, a spirit floating around your head and using your soul to keep us tethered here.”

“That’s not much of a life for the kid,” Ares said. “And it’s already a bit crowded in here. I’m not sure if you could take your soul being stretched anymore.”

“I’ll find a way,” I insisted.

We moved on for a few more hours in silence. I found it sort of odd that I had to traverse physical space in an infinite non-physical realm, but it probably had more to do with me than the actual space. I thought I needed to move through space, therefore I did. I arrived at the scene of dozens of souls being devoured by void spirits.

Not even giving them the chance to speak or act this time, I just attacked. I activated Void Asura and spun through them. Ideas and thoughts were destroyed with a slice of my sword or pierced through their metaphorical mass by my spear. I looked down on the shriveled, emaciated souls.

“Do any of you recognize me?” I asked.

“The Warlord,” croaked one, its voice like a desert breeze.

“Not anymore,” I said with a sigh.

“You killed me,” one of them said, pointing their gaunt skeletal hand at me. “In the Cursed Forest outside your black walls.”

I blinked, the last battle I’d fought in the Ancient Forest had been relatively recent. Kalin had died a month before and was nowhere near the state these souls were in.

“When did I fight you?” I asked.

“It was only a few weeks ago,” the soul spat. “Have you forgotten already? Lady Guinevere led us against you…”

I stopped listening after that. These souls had been here for over a year, back when I’d only been Veteran rank before I’d even met Guinevere. Why had I been drawn here, to the souls of my enemies? I closed my eyes, focusing on the feeling as the lost souls muttered curses at me.

My connection wasn’t with all of them. I wandered over and looked down at the form of a once massive man. He had been, still was, Jeriah’s brother. He had tried to save my life but had died in the pit when we fell. I reached down and put my hand on him.

“Wake up, Ormias,” I said.

The emaciated soul opened its eyes. “How do you know my name?” he asked in a dry voice.

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“I’ve come to save you,” I said. “I promised when you gave me your oath to follow me to stand beside you to the end and return your ancestral lands to you. I haven’t completed that promise yet.”

Ormias’ weak hand clasped around my wrist as I pulled him to his feet. “Mordred,” he said. “You came for me?”

I looked around at the other souls. “I’ve come for all of you, if you will follow me.”

--

Despite having been the one responsible for killing them in life, not a single soul decided not to follow me. They all shuffled along behind me, the ground rippling with their many steps. We continued to follow the faint feeling I was getting in another direction now.

“What’s our plan?” Guinevere whispered to me. “I get you feel responsible for some of these souls, but what can you realistically do for them except provide a quick end to their existence?”

“Void entities feed on souls,” I whispered back to her. “I need to kill tons of them to get enough mana to open up another portal.”

“So, they’re just bait?” she asked in another hushed whisper.

“No,” I said. “If I can help them somehow, I will.”

Guinevere squeezed my hand. “You aren’t responsible for their deaths, even if you drove your sword through their chest. It was their choices that led them to where they were.”

Memories of the screaming and burning of Camelot went through my mind. So many people who hadn’t chosen to take up arms against me had died there. Would Guinevere say the same thing then when we came across those souls damning me for my actions?

The trek across the endless expanse of the Void continued.

“How did they last so long?” I eventually asked Voidra, partially to clear up my understanding but also to break the oppressive silence. “Those souls were being devoured for almost two years. Kalin was like that for under one year and he…”

Looking at the gaunt figure of Kalin, I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Time doesn’t exist the same here,” Voidra said. “You should know that from the description of Void Asura. A soul could be devoured in a week or it could take a hundred years back in the outside world, but all time is relative here. You could meet a soul who died a thousand years ago who thinks it’s been a day since they were killed.”

“The more I learn about this place the less it makes sense,” I said. “It hurts my brain just thinking about it.”

“You don’t have a brain,” Karnen said.

“Hurtful,” I responded, though I could see Guinevere’s mouth turn up from the corner of my vision.

“No, you literally don’t have a brain here,” Ares said. “You shouldn’t feel any stress on your brain.”

“I must imagine that I should and so I do,” I said with a shrug.

“No…” Voidra said, pausing at the end of her sentence. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Sure it does,” I said. “Guinevere needs to sleep even though she has no body.”

“No, she needs to sleep because her energy is growing another soul,” Voidra said. “We go into hibernation here when we don’t have enough souls to feed on.”

“I’m not a Void spirit,” Guinevere said.

“Not true. Other than your memories and consciousness, you are a void entity as you’re not made of flesh, you’re a naked soul clothed only in thought, same as any other creature here.”

“Why is this relevant?” Ares asked.

“Because Mordred is feeling pain he shouldn’t,” Voidra said.

“Its just a headache,” I said.

“You don’t get headaches,” Guinevere said. “You don’t even feel pain. I know you don’t have a body but that shouldn’t change here.”

“Is this really that significant?” I asked.

“I think it is,” Voidra said. “I think you’re doing something Mordred.”

“Doing something? Do you all have to be so cryptic?” I asked.

“Every time you think about how the Void works, you get a headache,” Voidra said. “Your mind is stabilizing the Void, forcing it to act how you think it should.”

“Wouldn’t Guinevere be getting headaches to if that was the case?” I asked.

“Guinevere doesn’t have ethereal,” Voidra said. “Your energy isn’t Void energy, it’s not mana, stamina, or Celestria either. It’s somewhere in between all of those. It’s thought made physically manifest.”

“And now I’m, what…physically manifesting thought here?” I asked, looking down at the ground. “Guinevere can do this too.”

“Try it,” Ares said. “Try and visualize something Guinevere; a rock or blade of grass.”

Guinevere stared at the ground for a minute, but nothing happened.

“When we walk, she also extends the ground,” I said, pointing out to the edges of the ground.

“No,” Voidra corrected me. “You think that’s what happens. It’s a rule you created in your head, so you’ve made it reality here.”

“Does this change anything?” I asked. “Can I visualize a door or something out of here?”

“Maybe,” Voidra said. “I’m not sure because there is no precedent for this. We’re going to have to figure out exactly what it is you can do.”