Interconnected: Spliced Souls

After a handful of hours, I suddenly became aware of nothing. I had stopped somewhere along the way. I didn’t know when I became silent.   

Piles of finger bones and torn fat lay spewed before me. Calling for Itarr?  

She wasn’t there. Even when I screamed her name and used that fucking phone to text her, her voice did not grace my ears.   

But I discovered where she was a moment later when I delved into our soul world. The overpowering smell of libido hit me even from outside the tower, and it grew much more intense and clouded my senses once I made it into the tower’s primary chamber. The scent led me to the room I found her in before...except the back wall was utterly caked in dried semen from where Itarr was busy fucking the breeding mount. Judging from the state of things, she’d been going at it for hours, drunk on the feeling of bliss that came with climaxing. Her lips were stained white. If I had to guess, she alternated between autofellatio and using the mount to quench her newly obtained desires.  

I wanted to scream at her– demanding why she was carelessly monopolizing her desires without even bothering to check in with the girl who saved her from a solitary life of desolation. 

No… I can't do that. Pushing the blame on her? When it's my fault? I lacked the conscious thought to think about the effects of my actions and the potential consequences of misusing my power.  

You could argue the blame rested on the man who needed monotonia to survive, but that was treating a symptom, not the primary affliction. The cause was the despicable bastard who introduced the wretched pill to Canary, yet the root was the drug’s creator.   

I left our soul world, returning to reality with a heavy weight pressed against my heart. Pitying myself wouldn't bring anyone back. It wouldn't return that little boy or his sister to life. 

Things would get worst before they got better. Destroying the dens... That needed to happen for the city to get better... 

Knowing that...didn’t make the pain hurt any less, though. 

Busy work kept the mind from cascading down dangerous thought traps, so I cleaned the shed. More accurately, I stashed everything inside my ring and looked at my empty surroundings. If this was to be my new home, it could do with some tidying.   

But that could come later because I tackled the immediate outside. Everything within five feet of me vanished, leaving the long dead grass behind. I walked in a circle about fifty feet wide around my shed until it was trash free.   

My overalls were replaced by the outfit I used to destroy the dens as I took the sky with [Air Dance]. Walking across nothing, I had no destination in mind, but my feet brought me to a set of ruins I knew very well because I was here a day prior.   

But I wasn't alone. From above, I spied on a cloaked person with no visible features. I couldn't even be sure of their height because their shoes’ heels weren't the same size or shape. A mask covered their head, a long-sleeved shirt with black gloves, abyssal-colored pants and shoes, and an oversized coat to further clad their body’s physical properties.   

They were scribbling something in a notepad.  

Walking down a spiral staircase that wasn't there, I soon made it to the ground and spoke. “You don't seem like the type of person to be around here.”  

The stranger turned around and looked me up and down. “I should say the same to you.”  

“Making your voice deeper and grittier isn't a cute look. You're trying too hard to disguise yourself as a man? Or are you a man?”  

“And it's best to speak with a different accent? Is that what you're saying?” This time their voice was more normal, if not a little nasally. At the moment, this mysterious entity sounded male, so I went with it.   

“Something like that. You're mighty suspicious. Mind if I ask you what you're doing here?”  

“...” The man refused to reply. When I took a step closer, he leapt back. “[Shimmering Impalement]!” he shouted. His left arm glimmered a soft gold as he swatted it, causing four astral, glowing yellow spikes to launch towards me, piercing my hands and feet.   

“It's a bit rude to attack without cause,” I replied, storing the spell’s remains in my ring to free myself from their bondage. The wounds subsequently healed.   

“Getting rid of them without a chant? Consider me impressed, my fair lady.”  

“But you shouldn't have done that. I'm in a bad fuckin' mood, and you’ve made it even worse,” I snarled, feeling heat enflame my heart.  

The stranger put a hand to his chin. “Bad mood? Hmm… Perhaps it has anything to do with that dead child? A nearby apothecary failed to save the younger brother of one of the slum's many inhabitants.” 

My heart sank to my stomach, but I didn't let it show through gritting my teeth. “That's too goddamn good to be a guess.”   

“Then riddle me this and tell me if I'm correct. You recovered from my attack so fast that you must have some variation of high-speed regeneration. You're used to pain, so you didn't react to my spell. You're angry at the world– those unique crimson eyes reveal what you don't have to say. You came from above, so you must have [Air Dance] or something similar. I can only conclude that you were responsible or partly responsible for destroying these dens.” He sounded smug.   

“That's another guess that's too good to be true. Who the hell are you?”  

The man’s voice turned sinister, but he didn't add anything to it. It was like this was its natural tone– one suited for slaughtering.   

It was a grave warning.   

“You’ve made a lot of powerful people very angry. Angry enough to order your death at any cost. You have my gratitude for returning to the scene of the crime, so permit me to thank you before ending your life.” The man bowed gracefully– with experience and proper posture… “But know that your allies attempting to end the underground slave market will meet their end. Their lives will certainly be forfeited, although they may become part of the show before their timely demise.” 

Underground slave market? The fuck is that? 

“What the hell are you talking about? Well, I'll beat it out of you, I guess. Don't plan on staying coy for long–”  

Without warning, and mid-sentence, the man’s arms glowed as he kicked off the ground with incredible force, leaving behind a small crater. The energy gathered around his hands and assumed the shape of a pair of curved swords that nearly took off my head had I not jumped back and into the air quick enough. But his conjured weapons altered to form a long chain, which willed itself towards my ankle.   

“What the fuck–”  

“Predictable,” quipped the man as he slammed me into the ground hard enough to leave behind a hole. The hazy dust kicked from the impact obscured him once I got to my feet, making my opponent seem like a humanoid monster with glowing limbs as the light encompassed both arms entirely.   

I took a sword from my ring and charged in with it raised. The stranger sidestepped my slice and swept me off my feet, changing the arm with the chains back to a sword, but I rolled away before he pierced me.   

“You're not injured? I'm sure I heard a few ribs crack from the first attack. How interesting…”  

“Then what about this?!” Stacking [Telekinesis], I attempted to freeze my opponent in place…  

And it worked…for half a second before my invisible grip shattered. Again and again, I tried it, but my opponent menacingly approached me, shaking off one of my trump cards without batting an eye.  

“Another failure. I fail to understand how–” 

I got him! 

The moment the bastard walked within range, I used [True Absorption] to grasp his clothes to reveal the one underneath…  

But the slimy fucker just had to backpedal at the last moment!  

“How the fuck did you know?!” I demanded.   

“What was that?! It felt…ominous…” he replied, ignoring me. He took one more step forward but refused to cross that invisible threshold. In that case, I ran towards him, but…  

“[Minor Warp!]” He teleported forty feet away and displayed a pound of cautious hesitation.  

I sent a wave of shadowy bolts towards him, but he readily swatted them away without any issue. Magic didn’t work, I couldn’t restrain him in place, and I tried to catch up to him with [Air Dance], but he kept teleporting around. 

Nothing I did work. It all fucking failed.  

“Enough messing around! [Sacred Infestation]!” I readied my ring to absorb whatever was coming my way when he disappeared the astral armaments, clapped both hands, focused the glimmering glow around his palms, and held them out.   

The ground below me flashed the same color as the energy from his limbs. Instantly, a horde of writhing, wiggling worms broke through the surface and swarmed me. Some emitted acid to burn away my clothes and burrowed into my flesh, while others continued to ascend my body.   

“What the fuck are these?!” I exclaimed, grunting as the foreign bodies invading tripled with every passing second. Absorbing them was futile– there were just too many. And I couldn't focus on the discomfort.   

“As the name implies, it is an infestation. A terribly difficult spell to master, but one that ensures certain death if the victim cannot counter it,” spoke the stranger, who seemed to find pleasure in my screaming. I clawed at my flesh and dug for crimson gold, but for each worm I extracted, it divided itself and became smaller. “[Sacred Infestation - Detonate]”  

As soon as that left his mouth, the worms exploded like mines from the inside, scattering chunks of flesh no bigger than a pinhead to the furthest reaches of the slums.   

Everything went back.   

Back when I had half of my head chopped off, I could see and move. But this?  

It was like an endless void of black. My killer said something, his voice hazy and indecipherable amid the growing static conquering my ears.   

I was…there and not there– present and absent– unable to tell the difference between the mind and body, soul and flesh, life and death–aimlessly wandering amid this impossible-to-perceive place.   

It felt like an eternity passed before I found myself standing near that fountain of blood, staring up at the infinite tower in our soul world that shattered the heavens and continued for an eternity.   

“Seems I'm still whole,” I said, touching my body. Attempting to wake up or leave– as I'd done many times before– did nothing.   

I was trapped here without any way to escape– utterly destroyed by an opponent who overpowered me in all aspects. He knew– no, he couldn't have known about [True Absorption]. It was his instincts, right? That hidden feeling creeping against the back of his neck must've alerted him.  If I had used it in our earlier clash, no doubt he would’ve warped away. 

Shit... 

“HEY! ITARR!!!!” I shouted the goddess's name while running into the tower.   

No response.   

But I knew where she was. I barged through the door at the end of that hallway– where I had last found when she discovered the joys of masturbation–causing her to scream and lose her balance.   

“What– what's wrong?!” she exclaimed, naked, a full erection sprouted between her legs. Proof of a recent climax dripped from the tip of her cock, which spewed from the breeding mount. 

---

To say that my relationship with Itarr didn't change after she ignored me was a lie.   

I was just…so upset and pissed off that I took my anger out on her. And she just sat there, shocked, fearful, and uneasy. The way she winced when I raised my voice… Her unnatural flinching when I punched the wall, shattering my arm…  

All the stress and fear of encountering an unconquerable foe was laid bare, but adding the regretful shame of being the cause behind that kid’s death?  

You could only push off trauma for so long before it built up like a deadly blockage. Every second you spent thinking about something else was another moment it compounded. It grew and clawed at your innards, tickling the consciousness behind your mind. And mine had grown too much for me to control.   

“It's not fair… IT'S NOT FAIR!!! WHY HIM? Why them?! WHY COULDN'T I HAVE DIED IN THEIR PLACE?!!!” I dropped to my bare knees and couldn't see the dark ground through my watery vision. “AND WHERE WERE YOU? HUH? JUST WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU WHEN THAT WAS HAPPENING?!” 

Thump! Thump! Thump! 

I pounded the floor more times than I could count, only stopping when a pair of arms wrapped around my back. I raised my weary head to find Itarr embracing me.  

“I'm sorry…” she whispered, shedding her sadness. “I’m sorry I ignored you… I'm sorry you had to go through that alone…” The goddess never let me go. Even when I foolishly tried to push her away in a moment of cowardice, she remained ever clinging, promising to never again lose sight of what was important.   

Once I had calmed down from my outburst in Itarr’s loving arms, she understood the situation. I’d need about three days for my body to be recreated because there was nothing I could regenerate from. Itarr said that should I suffer a fate once more; the recovery time would be drastically lessened. But until [True Immortality] had done its job, I remained in our soul world with Itarr to comfort me. She was much more loving and attentive, almost like a mother-like figure suffocating their child with their overbearing love.   

But I loved that about her. Sure, she had made a mistake and lost herself to that breeding mount when she discovered a new feeling that, admittedly, felt unlike anything else she'd ever felt... But she was apologetic in leaving me alone to deal with the consequences of my actions by my lonesome.   

She said it wasn’t my fault– that I could never intend for things to have played out like they had, but those words didn’t do much because it was my fault.   

The goddess and I eventually walked to the central room and sat down, and she patted her lap. Laying my head down, she slowly stroked my hair and spoke to me. We shared a soul, so she knew my torment. She knew how I felt. She wasn’t a stranger, and even though she lacked experience in empathy, she put a trembling hand to heart and said she felt my pain. If she could, she said, she desired to take the heartache for herself to erase my discomfort. 

The goddess was… She was just sweet, and caring, and loving. I never should’ve lost my cool and screamed at her. Someone like her didn’t deserve the vitriol I spewed her way.   

“I don’t blame you for it, Servi. I’m not angry,” she had said multiple times, reinforcing her kindness. “I’m more displeased with my actions. I hope you can forgive me.”  

And that just made me hurt all the worse.  

The time I spent with her was full of tears because I couldn’t stop crying. And thankfully, Itarr didn’t seem to mind. No... Maybe she was partly glad I was relying on her like this. She had a body now. She was warm, and I knew blood– or perhaps the divine equivalent– flowed through her veins. 

---

What are we going to do? Itarr’s voice was the first thing I heard after leaving our soul world once my body was regenerated, but it took a moment to reply because my surprise was overpowering.  

The forest? The place where I woke up without any memories? That was where I found myself– stark naked, on my back, leaning against the very same tree as moonlight filtered through the heavy leaves above, cascading dozens of pillars of light to illuminate this familiar area.  

The plan was to return to Canary and find my murderer. With [Air Dance], the trip took just a handful of minutes. I dressed in some of the clothes Srassa bought for me, and my mind went to her and Momo after feeling the fabric between my fingers. 

What would they think? I pretty much ghosted them. If they were pissed, it’d be totally understandable, but I didn't think I could go back and act like nothing had happened because what would I say? 

That I died and was out of commission for around 75-ish hours?   

It's been a while since I last saw them.  

That was still flowing around my mind when Canary appeared in the distance. It didn't take long to find my shed– my new, current home– but I decided to remain in the air and walk over the slums. 

“That bastard said something about an underground slave market. He thought I had allies or something, but I didn't know what the fuck he was going on about.” 

Do you plan to search them out? These supposed allies? 

“I would if I knew how, I would.” Itarr and I brainstormed but quickly ended our discussion when the ground flashed yellow.   

“[Sacred Infestation - Restraint]!”  

I was right over the destructive remains of one of the dens I wiped out. Five large, fleshy, gross tentacles burst from the ruins and latched around my limbs and head.  

“This is an oddity,” said a familiar voice, coming from somewhere below me, but I couldn’t move my head. “I was sure you had died. Not many can survive [Sacred Infestation - Detonate]. Perhaps there’s more to you than meets the eye?”  

The tentacle around my throat restricted my vocal cords, so I couldn’t reply. The man used [Minor Warp] and appeared in front of me—six feet away—standing on nothing but thin air as he held a golden orb in his hands.  

The tentacles branched off that object and snaked through the ground, coming up from the debris.   

I knew he had a pensive expression under that mask. “Could it be [Necromancy]? Ah, your eyes widened. Suppose I’m correct? Are you perhaps a revenant? A specter? Some other type of undead? Ah, could it be a lich? They’re supposed to be skeletons with ancient, undeath magic at their fingertips to manipulate the flow of death to suit their corrupted being, not a red-eyed girl. But regardless of what you are, becoming whole within less than a week is no small feat. Consider me impressed.”  

“...”  

“Ah, forgive me. Suppose even undead beings require the use of their throat to speak.” With a wave of his hand, the tentacles loosened their grip by a smidge.  

The tentacles themselves were within my range. Absorbing one seemed to break it off from the orb it came from, but two more were born in its place, constricting me even tighter.   

“Itarr, is there anything you can do here?”  

“Is that the name of your summoner?” My mysterious opponent was as calm as a cucumber when he merely looked around…and saw nothing. “I must admit your power is interesting, but your limited range is an incredible weakness once it is known.” 

He can make more tentacles faster than I can act, Servi. I’m unable to absorb the orb via the tentacles because there isn’t a physical connection bridging them. There’s a gap just big enough preventing me from doing that. 

I didn’t see a gap, but that meant it was probably smaller than what the naked eye could perceive. That was another weakness of [True Absorption], I guess. This bastard had probably modified the orb just to counter my ability. 

“Well? I don’t see anything. I can only assume your summoner has left you to die. Judging by your prior return, I assume they hold a way to return you to life, so I doubt this will be the last we meet. Please, give a warning to your foolish comrades. Tell them any attempt to disrupt Canary will be met with extreme force, and you'll be wiped out to the last man, woman, and child.” 

The worms– those squiggling bastards branched from the tentacles and furrowed beneath the skin.  

I sent as many shadowy bolts as I could towards him in the off chance something worked, but tentacles from the orb destroyed them the moment they appeared. Trying to absorb the tentacles when they came close to avoid them disrupting my spells failed since he made a few hundred as thin as a string. It was incredibly difficult for Itarr and me to handle that many. 

And I exploded a minute or two later, dying yet again in the same gruesome way. 

At least it's painless. But what the fuck am I going to do? 

---

Itarr was waiting for me in front of the fountain. She immediately spoke about [Necromancy] and almost demanded why that man knew about it. The goddess almost wanted to believe he had knowledge of her past. Or, at the very least, enough to get her started in the right direction.   

Perhaps if I could craft a field of absorption? Like, anything that travels within it would get automatically stashed in my ring. And if I could throw it… No, even swirling it around me would be good enough.  

Did something like that exist? Itarr fathomed it could if we were to train for long enough, but she didn't have the intrinsic ability to do it. 

But this confirmed something, I told her. “It means there are others with the ability to raise the dead. We're sure to run into one or two of them. Since that's the case, there might be others who can use the [Forbidden Skill System].”  

Itarr crossed her arms and closed her eyes, her desert-kissed skin looking soft and supple. “Maybe. I hope you're right. But it'll take about a day to regenerate your body.”