Chapter 21 A Plea For Help

"So..." I hummed quietly as I looked up at the constantly shifting, yet still somewhat humanoid form of the being who had been secretly following me around for a while now.

"We finally meet again huh" I said, however the only response I got was the creature's steady gaves, it was rather odd to see just how calm it had become in a split instant.

"That time when I first met you, you never actually really introduced yourself. So I'll ask again" this time when I spoke I dropped my metaphorical mask, it was time to interrogate this thing after all.

"Tell me, just who are you?" That was a demand not a request.

"Does it matter...?" The smooth and calm voice did not fit the creature at all but I recognized it immediately as the being I presumed to be the main consciousness.

"We have been given many titles...many names..." The way it spoke was slow and rhythmic, yet also assertive and rumbling.

"None of them matter now...only a small few even remember them..."

"Alright then, let me ask something else" I muttered seeing that I wasn't going to get a direct answer.

"What do you want?" I asked while narrowing my eyes.

"To serve...to follow..." Now I definitely wasn't expecting it to say something like that.

"Why?" I asked slightly taken aback 

"We are not whole...we are broken...shattered...you can make us whole...you can fix us...we know this...we will follow..." It spoke sounding both frustrated and regretful at the same time. These feelings were not directed towards me however but instead towards something else.

"What do you mean? How are you broken?" I wondered curiously. I had a sinking feeling that they were not actually talking about their strange personality disorder.

"We...I...I do not remember what I am...it has been far too long now..." That was actually kind of depressing but I didn't show any emotion, I simply observed and listened as they continued on with their explanation.

"However...what I do remember is this...when I was created something went wrong...I was not like the other beings that were first forged...I was hollow...empty...flawed..." I took note of the fact that they said "created" and "forged" not born, after which I went back to quietly listening along to the story.

"I hungered...I desperately wanted to fill the void within me...the twisted...buzzing feeling that gnawed at my mind constantly...so I hunted...I consumed...I became..." Their voice had returned to its normal calmness, however it was laced with what seemed like shame when that sentence left its mouth.

"Soon I...became we..."

(Guess that has something to do with the multiple consciousnesses that are inside of them) I thought while nodding in understanding.

"We met someone like you once...someone with the power to free us...to fix us..."

(Are they talking about the ability to corrupt? If so then who exactly? Who else had this power before me...maybe the dragon that Baldr told me about before?) I had a feeling however that they were probably talking about someone or something else.

"Who?" 

"A broken soul...crimson wings...a mind driven by sorrow and despair...a once holy light now shattered and corrupted...an angel driven by madness..." That sounded somewhat familiar.

(Crimson wings? Like the wings on the cult's flag?) The image of the six blood red wings plastered over the halo like ring popped into my mind, an image that I quickly shook away.

"They were too broken...they would not help us...they wished only to destroy...destroy the Light and its creations..." They continue to explain while ignorant to the thoughts that cross my mind.

(What the hell is this "Light" they keep talking about?) Just another question to add to the pile, however the shitty rip-off of the Blob here may be able to answer that once I got the more important stuff out of the way first.

"But...even with their power...their followers...they fell to the Light...their dark plans crushed..." I crossed my arms as I continued listening on, however what they said next made me stumble in surprise.

"The Fragments did not choose them...they were a false god...a pretender to the throne..." 

"How do you know about the Fragments?!" I hissed slightly, I had definitely not expected to meet anyone that knew about this other than the two nuisances in my head.

"Few know of them...we devoured some who did...not much...but we learned some things..." They didn't seem surprised that I knew, in fact it was almost like they were expecting me to know at least something about them.

"Like what?" Even if it was nothing more than the same thing that I already knew, I had to find out if there was any useful information. I could always ask those two but I had a feeling that they probably wouldn't answer me if I called for them, which is annoying considering the fact that they are living in my head, the least they could do was answer my questions.

"We will tell you...if you help us first..."

"...Fine" I sighed after several seconds of thought on the matter.

"But I'm not going to just trust you without any assurance that you won't stab me in the back later" I wasn't going to make the mistake of trusting someone to do the right thing and not attack me when my guard has been lowered.

"I will not harm you...or your allies" I knew that they were not lying, perks of being a literal living lie detector but still, that didn't change anything.

"The fact that I know you're telling the truth does go a long way, however I still have to make sure" some people may think that I was being rather paranoid at this moment but I don't give a single shit, not after what just happened only a few days ago.

"Do what you must...so long as we as a whole...it does not matter..." They said while lowering themselves slightly.

I took this moment to do two things. First, I placed a mark on them, so that I could sense their location at all times. Second, I used my skill to dominate them. Surprisingly though they didn't actually resist me at all when I did this, basically allowing me to be far more lenient with how much control I had over them.

"You are free to keep your free will, you can even move as you please but you are forbidden from doing anything I would disagree with" I explained getting a nod of acknowledgement in return.

"Very well..."

(I still don't know if I can trust this thing but for now at least I'll keep them on a short leash) I thought while pushing my suspicions away for now.

"Before I go any further, would you mind telling me what it is that's actually wrong with you?"

"I do not remember...however I do know that it has something to do with an anomaly...an anomaly within my soul...and spirit..." They explained with a somewhat solemn expression

"I only hope that...that the power you hold can fix it...or at the very least fill the void that causes our eternal hunger..."

(They said it had something to do with their soul so le-what the hell?!) I cursed internally when I activated my skill and saw what exactly was happening to this thing's soul.

First off, they had more than one soul, thousands in fact. The possibly hundreds of thousands of souls were all interconnected by what looked like some kind of vein-like system. However, what had shocked me so much was not this, it was in fact something else.

The souls were surrounding each other in a somewhat tight sphere shape. The souls on the edges were simpler and less intricate looking compared to the souls deeper in. This made some sense when you realized that the outer souls were probably less valuable and were being used to protect the souls deep inside. 

What were they protecting them from? Well the closest thing that I can describe it as would be soul rot. The souls on the outside were literally decaying at a visible rate, some of them had gotten to the point where they even started to break apart into nothingness.

(The souls are acting as a literal wall protecting their main soul from the decay. No wonder they need to absorb so many souls, they definitely would have died otherwise) I muttered internally as I looked on in shock.

(No, "absorb" isn't the right word. If they had been absorbing this many souls then they would not only be a demon lord hundreds of times over but they wouldn't have this strange multi personality disorder) 

(It's more like they are assimilating them, all the souls have different personalities, different memories but they are all a part of them. All those personalities are just shattered pieces of beings long dead and they are using the least important ones to slow the decay while protecting the others...) I had no idea what the hell was causing this, in fact I hadn't ever seen something like this before.

(Just how many souls have they lost over the years?) I couldn't even begin calculating something like that, it must have been in the millions at the very least.

(Can I...can I even fix something like this?)