Chapter 10 – Memories, Knowledge and Pain

He promised himself that he would be more careful, and his goal was to stabilize enough to examine what was happening and hopefully find a safe way out. However, the pain was so intense that it forced him to remain in a confused state.

After some time, he finally managed to get some clarity, with the little clarity he had, he extended his senses only to feel horrified.

In front of him was a snake-like thing. After he examined it, he noticed it was a soul strand. What happened next shocked him.

The tip of it turned into a nail-like shape and dug into him.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh,"

The soul could not handle the pain of an external object digging into him. The pain needed an outlet, and the only solution he could come up with was shouting loudly in the hope that it would somehow dim down the pain.

Then the soul strand sank into him and anchored there, forming a connection. This was similar to the soul connection the dark soul established with the memory location.

The only difference was that he was not forming the connection this time, it was the soul strand digging into him.

He could not reject the connection at this point as he was drained by the endless pain.

The connection succeeded, it became stronger and turn ethereal similar to the one he had with the memory location.

The constant cyclical pain that he had experienced felt like years. At this point, he knew that he was reaching his limit, and he was getting dizzy and in need of rest.

He knew that he had passed his limits and needed to recharge.

He had almost given in to rest. When he saw something else coming for him.

He exhaled, he knew that he was at his limit and this new thing could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. He did not want to give up. So he hardened his resolve and waited for the pain again.

Even though the dark soul looked worn out, it just stood there knowing that he is unable to escape. Thus he wanted to brace for the incoming pain.

Identifying the object approaching, he noticed it was a book that was flying gracefully. It elegantly sat on him, and then it slowly sank into his soul.

After each addition into his soul, the pain kept on intensifying.

The accumulation of things that sank into his soul made the soul bloated, the last piece; the book had really caused his soul injured.

There was a lot of pressure built up that affected the surface of his soul. As there was an internal force built up as a result of the intrusions, and the surface of the soul had to withstand it.

This constant resistance had worn down the soul, and he slowly let go. At this point, he had lost all his senses and was in a knocked out state. Time passed, the only indication of being alive that the soul gave off was a constant vibration.

The built-up of pressure had caused the surface of the soul to have little cracks. Seeing the state of the soul, one could not even imagine how much pain he had faced.

Over time, the twitching and the vibration of the soul slowly started to die down, but the cracks did not heal. The soul looked extremely fragile at this point.

In the unconscious state, the dark soul slowly started to groan in pain, after a while, the recurring painful groans were all that was heard.

At this time, the soul could not think, as he slowly assimilated with the unknown things that had intruded into his soul, but in his mind, he had one thought, "how do I end this pain?"

Every second and every groan the soul endured. He kept on repeating to himself, "how do I end this pain?" This statement had turned into a mantra, the repetition and the mental message brought him solace, allowing him to better cope with the pain.

Although he was knocked out, he had an awareness of his surroundings, but he was unable to concentrate on that. If he had, he would have noticed that he was slowly moving and shifting to a different location.

As time passed, the shift had brought him back to his initial location where he conversed with the Voice after arriving here, this place could nourish the soul.

When he arrived here in a broken state, the nourishment by the energy was precisely what he needed. This was like offering coal in winter.

The healing energy was slowly and steadily seeping into him. This external supplement had increased his healing.

In his unconscious state, the soul finally noticed a cool sensation that soothed his pain. This cooling sensation had reduced the pain and expedited his healing.

After absorbing the healing energy, the pain had reached a tolerable amount. This finally gave him enough clarity to semi-consciously absorb the energy around and increase its intake, this absorption was almost on reflex. The soothing and healing effect was enjoyable, he just wanted this to continue and be faster, the nourishment also reduced his pain, this was a complete enticement to him.

Sometime later, the soul's pain was alleviated, and he finally managed to inspect around him.

He had a bit of fear built up, expecting another attack on him.

He had a long sigh of relief, seeing no immediate danger, and he relaxed a little. This relief allowed him to better focus on his healing and absorb the healing energy.

He had noticed that he was no longer in danger, therefore he no longer consciously focused on healing and transferred the process to continue subconsciously. He wanted to examine himself and his surroundings, to find clues of what happened to him.

He thoroughly examined his soul, and there were many new and unfamiliar things there. This brought him a lot of discomfort.

He had seen the cracks around his soul and knew that this damage would take a long time to heal.

At the same time, he felt glad that he managed to survive the torturous pain.

At this point, he was angry, all of these pains were a result of following the Majestic Voice.

He wanted answers and wanted to know what happened to him, and what are those things that have entered his soul?

Because while he examined his soul, he noticed a red object shrouded by a murderous and sharp aura in the centre of his soul.

He had noticed another soul connection that wanted to send information similar to the memory location.

He examined and noticed that he had subconsciously disallowed it from sending information. He sighed in relief. Because he knew that memories can shape one's personality, if these memories wanted to, it could turn him into a docile puppet.

He noticed circular shapes at the surface of his soul, and they were giving off some sort of energy that he had no understanding of. While evaluating them, he noticed something that made him fear, as the area around these energies started to change, and the soul gave off a similar feel to it. These energies were changing the soul like a plague.

Finally, there was a book that had a crystalline appearance in his soul. There was a pull that wanted the consciousness to enter it, but he refused.

He wanted to know if they are ticking time bombs? Or a method to control him? Or something else?

To find out what the new additions were at his soul, he could only ask the Voice.

The answers were all known by that Voice. As much as he hated him now, for putting him through all the pain. He really did not have any other choice but to find out what happened from him.

He shouted, "Hello,"

"Are you there?"

He waited for a while, but there was no answer. He was expecting an answer immediately, but contrary to his expectations, there was no answer.

He waited, hoping to hear something back, but nothing.

In his time of need, he had expected the Voice to come through and answer him, but he realized that the Voice no longer needed him. The Voice had achieved his goal, and he had fallen into his trap.

This made him feel abandoned and betrayed.

He felt sad and lost at the moment. This experience showed and thought to him that he could be betrayed at any moment and by anyone.

Unbeknownst to him, this has caused a change in his personality. From now on, he would not trust people very quickly.

He knew that since he could not get an answer from that Majestic Voice, he could try to come up with them himself.

This made another change to his personality, where he would strive to solve his own problems making him independent. Because he knew that the best and more accurate answers would come from his own research and his own understanding.

The reliance on others brings along with it a lot of uncertainty and risk. For instance, at the moment, he knows that he would not believe any explanation given by the Voice.

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