“The lighting seems to have become even dimmer.” I found myself stating out loud as Iris led me through the floor, west and past a pneumatically sealed door. The corridors in this new area were much larger and we passed by large inactive machines, still holding onto their cargos.

"Understandable. The servo-machines in this area navigate only according to programs." She explained. "Therefore, there's no need for illumination, unless externally assigned units come here."

"Experimentation, cargo holds, a matter transporter..." I mused out loud as I put the pieces together of everything I had seen so far.

CHECK – (INS+INS)+4, DL 12

RESULTS – (6+2)+4=12 / SUCCESS!

The key to everything was Iris's existence, and her declared purpose. If the drones I had encountered so far could've just been guards, provided by externals, the fact that one of the facility's creation –the most advanced I had encountered so far- was apparently built to serve a master in battle, left no doubt in my mind that this facility was attached to some kind of military force.

They produced minions for them in various ways, the most common of which evidently being using dead bodies to be then enhanced into the drones I had been fighting. The patchwork appearance of their appearance indicated an attempt at selecting proper parts to construct the full body.

And the room where the huge pile of garments was being disposed of also lead me to think that not all the 'raw materials' were corpses before arriving at this facility... Which makes me wonder, where do they get the people from? Was it their enemies, the inhabitants of the lands they were invading? Or was it their own citizens?

If this was their own people, this kind of facility and process would have to be kept secret... Unless the civilization this military belonged to was culturally inclined to sacrifice themselves for war? I found myself narrowing my gaze, recalling my own homeland, the overinflated sense of patriotism and manifest destiny that had been instilled in them over the centuries. The way it had shaped the history of the country and its people.

'It begets a certain familiarity, doesn't it?' I thought to myself...

And so uncharacteristically deep was in my musing that I didn't perceive the presence of the specter until it was right in my face. Or mayhap, it wasn't there until I stepped close enough?

"Aaaah... I tried..." I froze in my tracks, my eyes glued to the apparition. A vaguely humanoid shaped mass of blueish plasma, with glowing yellow eyes and no eyelids. It droned in a far-away sounding voice, slowly hovering feet above the ground with a slumped posture. "I tried so hard..."

"My lord?" Iris had stopped walking as well, now facing towards me in confusion and concern. "What occupies your attention?"

"...I'm going to infer from your question that you cannot see the ghastly figure." I replied, keeping my attention on the figure.

"Ghastly... Figure?" She repeated the words as if they tasted wrong, her eyes narrowed.

"I tried... I tried... And I still died..." The figure kept lamenting, its voice breaking into a moan of what I could register as pain... "I died... I died... And I lost it..."

"...!" I winced as the last part of its lament was particularly higher pitched, somehow causing me actual physical pain...! "Ugh!" The pain became seering and I grasped at the side of my head, eyes shut.

-VI-

FEAR...LOVE...

"Aaaah… Aaah, oh gods… Ayreen…! Where's Ayreen?!"

FEAR...

"I got to hide… I have to find her…!"

PANIC...PAIN!

"AAAAAAH!"

PAIN! DESPAIR...

pain...love...

-VI-

"...usso! Lord Jusso!"

"...aaah!" A hard grip on my shoulders. A darkened hallway. The ghastly figure. Iris... What? "What in the blazes...?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"My lord, are you alright?!" A new emotion in her voice. Panic, concern. She was grasping on both of my shoulders, shaking me. "You cried out in pain and then suddenly became unresponsive!"

"I'm... I'm fine." Was I? A sheen of sweat covered my face and neck. I could feel my right hand shake and the vestiges of pain from an injury I had never received stung at my abdomen. And... The... Thoughts? That had filled my being? What was...? "The pain is gone, but..."

"Aaah... I tried, I tried so hard..." It was the ghastly figure... It couldn't have been anything else. The sensations it had transmitted to me, some of which completely alien and unfamiliar, bits and pieces of locations and actions, and then...

'So what stand before me is a deceased soul? And what I just witnessed were its memories?' I wiped at my face with my hand, and my mind thought of my friend. His renowned ability to establish almost supernatural bonds with people of all species and cultures, which had so perked my curiosity in his power and its inner workings... As far as I knew, this was even beyond him. "You truly cannot see the spirit."

I stated more than asked of Iris. She blinked, averting her gaze from me, releasing my shoulders and turning to look in my same direction. "...I see nothing, lord Jusso."

"Of course." I sighed, frowning at yet another thing that had been dropped into my lap. More questions without answers in sight... Yet, like the AT Vision Iris had described had been a boon if one yet to be fully explored, mayhap this could be of help as well? "...it... No, he lost something..."

As I regained my composure, the flashes of memory I had received from the specter became a bit clearer, even if I couldn't interpret most of the sensations. An object, which he had clutched on desperately in its last moments.

A ring.

'Could it be...?' I stared at the pouch of my uniform for but a split second before digging into it. So far, every item that had been identified by the ATV had been useful or important. Why would this be any different? I grasped the ring in my fist and stepped past Iris, who stared at me in concern. I raised my arm up, palm upwards... "Is this what you've lost, specter?" Then opened it splayed wide, the small ring in the middle.

"...! My... My ring?" The specter turned to me, its incorporeal eyes flashing brightly as they focused on the ring. It hovered to a stop before me, staring at the palm of my hand. "The engagement ring… I was going to surprise Ayreen. I was going to put it on her finger, have her be my wife… We would have been so happy together." As he lamented, his hue turned darker, and I could feel the temperature around us fall. "But then they came… They took us. Ayreen is gone…" Suddenly, his voice's distorted quality started fading, leaving behind just the echo. His hue lightened. "And I was so ashamed…"

"Because you were too weak." I observed.

"Lord Jusso, who are you talking to...?" Iris stood to the side, her eyes darting from me to the spot where the spirit hovered, without actually being able to register his presence.

"Yes… Too weak to protect her… And I couldn't even keep the ring safe." Lighter and lighter his hue became, and the temperature rose... "But Ayreen wouldn't care, would she? Gods, what a fool…" The form of the specter became more distinct. The ring grew hot in my hand and both started shining with light.

"L-Lord Jusso?! What is happening?!" This, she could definitely witness and notice. I ignored her panic as the spirit lifted his eyes from the ring to address me properly.

"I would know your name, stranger." His voice was strong now, warm. His form started to shimmer. "When next I meet Ayreen, I would tell her of the one who reunited us."

"Jusso Vachellis... But don't flatter yourself." I frowned. "All I have done is follow a whim. Your salvation was but incidental."

"Incidental or not... You are still responsible, #$@%&." I startled, my eyes wide as the specter addressed me by my real name. "I'd like you to keep the ring. May it keep you safe... I sense a powerful foe coming your way." Before I could even think of asking how he could know, its figure shone bright for a second and then began decomposing in motes of light. "Farewell... And thank you." His thanks given, it disappeared, his eyes the last thing of his being to fade from existence...

Being granted the finality that I had failed to achieve, time and again.

You receive 1 Ring of Reunited Lovers!

"...lord Jusso, I... Frankly, I'm lost for words." Iris looked like a complete fish out of water. "What has... What has transpired? Why is this ring suddenly permeated with magicks?"

"...a goodbye gift from a dearly departed, Iris. I don't know how else to explain it." I declared, staring at the ring... And then, with a sigh, putting it on my right ring finger. I felt a surge of warmth permeate my body as I did.

"You mentioned specter... Spirits." Once again, she pronounced those words like they were a perished meal. "My lord, there's no scientific proof of such things in the history of Battallia."

"Any stories about commuting with the dead?" I prodded her, observing the accessory which now snugly fit around my digit.

"...stories, as you said. Myths. Legends." She retorted and I could feel a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Hmph. Very well, then. Let's just leave it at that, for now." I acquiesced to her skepticism, and returned my attention to the matter of escaping. And the warning... "The spirit did say, though, that a powerful foe was coming my way."

"An easy guess to make. We have been making short work of the drones, so it stands to reason that if they are still set on blocking our escape, they would send at least an Overseer." She retorted, her voice returning to the default tone. "I suggest we hurry to the transporter and make ourselves scarce, lord Jusso."

"Lead the way." I ordered, flexing my right hand into a fist and staring at the continued dark corridor. "Hoping we don't encounter any more surprising revelations about my being on the way there."

Jusso unlocked Soul Sight!

Soul of the Lover: Satisfied! Jusso's party received 100 XP!