Book 3, chapter 29

With bated breath, Zee phased through the pitch-black metal, her stomach leaping in her throat at the absolute darkness.

She didn't have time to worry about the pitch blackness, as a domineering presence focused on her, its attention almost enough to turn around. Zee gritted her teeth, pushing on, unwilling to give up so easily.

For several long seconds, she phased through the metal wall, ignoring the building pressure.

Even moving at a breakneck speed, it took her four seconds, before she burst out from the wall, into a dimly lit room.

Not even a second later, her wayward walk skills duration ended and she phased back into reality. She appeared at the edge of a wide room, several golems lining the walls, with odd metal arms protruding from the ceiling.

It was all lit by small crystals embedded into the ceiling, casting the dark metal room in an eerie glow.

Zee simply stared, mouth agape. It looked like a golemmancers lab and an extremely advanced one at that.

She was snapped from her awe-struck staring, as a presence formed in front of her. She drew her sword in one fluid motion but hesitated to attack upon seeing the ghostly apparition hovering in the air.

A displeased voice filled her head, "Greeting sorceress. I am Kur Zul, the guardian of the Heart. May I ask why you are invading my tower?" The Spector asked.

Her mind whirled as the clearly hostile ghost glared at her. It was incorporeal, changing shapes by the moment, yet she got a distinct impression that it was pissed off.

Zee took a moment to process its words, not wanting to blunder. By guardian of the heart, did it mean, the heart of the planar space? If so, she was in deep shit.

Petie hadn't told her anything about a guardian, much less one that was this freakishly powerful.

One whiff of its dense aura was enough to convince her to go with diplomacy instead of violence. The ghost felt like it was all around her like it was the tower, and this a mere projection.

If she had to fight this thing to steal the heart, Zee was going to turn around and leave, consequences be damned. With that in mind, Zee sheathed her sword and bowed deeply.

"I am dreadfully sorry for trespassing. I did not know anyone lived here. Please tell me, how may I make up for my intrusion?" Zee asked, hoping the ghost would change its tune if she did it a favor.

The ghost paused for a moment, it form undulation silently.

"Repayment will not come cheap. For your trespass, I have a request for you." Kur Zul said.

Zee had no idea what this ghost might want, but she was doubting her punishment would be something mundane like dusting the cobwebs from the walls. Still, she pressed on, as finding a treasure in this tower was her last chance to fix her current problem.

"And what request would you have me do?" Zee asked anxiously.

The ghost hummed softly. "There is a profane object in my tower, one I cannot remove on my own. I want you to take it from here." Kur Zul said calmly as if it had already decided to get her to take this thing before.

Zee really didn't like the sound of that. Anything that could be classified as profane, especially by a powerhouse like this ghost, must be incredibly dangerous.

Maybe she shouldn't have made it such an open offer.

"What? Not happy?" Kur Zul asked.

"It's just that, I don't have much time," Zee said, hoping to get something out of the ghost for doing this favor.

"Ahh, I see. Is it because your splinter is cracking? "Kur Zul asked casually.

Zee grimaced her expression an answer in and of itself. Despite her discomfort at the ghost invading her privacy, hope filled her.

"Do you know what is wrong with me?" Zee asked.

"Yes... That Ashary you have bonded with is killing you." Kur Zul said bluntly.

"Dern wouldn't do that, he is a close friend." Zee defended.

The ghost let out a trilling laugh that echoed through the opulent atrium.

"Ahh, the naivety of youth. It might be your friend, but that parasite cannot help its nature. Your soul is too weak to contain it, the Ashary's mere existence in your splinter is killing you." Kur Zul said, its tone uncaring.

Zee stood there for a while in numb silence, not sure what to say to that. There was one thread of hope, a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

"You said you might be able to fix this?" Zee asked.

Kur laughed again, his tone almost mirthful. "I might have something to help, though I doubt you will be able to succeed. Take the profane object from my tower, and I will give you an item that can help you form a soul realm," Kur Zul said his amusement palpable.

Zee's blood ran cold. Forming a soul realm was usually not even attempted until the peak D grade. The requirements to form an inner world were just too steep to pull off in the E grade, much less the F grade.

Her splinter would explode under that kind of pressure. Before she could even think about taking that step, Zee would need to evolve her splinter, to a fragment, then a shard.

Even then, forming a soul realm would be a long shot. After all, forming an inner realm was the first step one needed to take to enter the Celestial grade.

Zee shook her head. "That is impossible. Besides, how does forming a soul realm help me fix my splinter?" Zee asked hesitantly

Kur Zul chuckled. "I didn't say it would. That is up to you. Come, let's get this over with," Kur Zul said.

Zee reluctantly followed the ghost, which led her to a hidden alcove. To say its offer sounded sketchy was an understatement.

This ghost was up to something, she just didn't know what. Without even a gesture, or flicker in its aura, a ten-foot thick block of reflective metal slid upward, exposing a well-lit stairwell. Small gems lined the vaulted roof, lighting the dark metal stairs with a bright glow.

A pang of worry tugged at her, as she took a step into the stairwell. The thick metal door closed silently behind her, without so much as a trickle of energy coming from Kur Zul.

Zee followed the ghost up the tower, passing over a dozen doors. She wanted to explore inside, to see what they were hiding but didn't dare after seeing their guardians.

Each door was guarded by more of those steel golems, each exuding more pressure than Malden when he was going all out.

Even without tempting fate, and trying to rob the place, her condition was worsening. The cracks on her splinter were still the same, but the toxic haze in the air grew denser by the second.

The heart of fire beat like a war drum in her chest, doing its best to purge the foul taint. Even with her bloodline talent, it was growing hard to breathe.

Zee stuffed two antidote pills in her mouth, ascending one step at a time. By the time the ghost opened a door onto the crown of the tower, the yellow smoke was so thick it was almost like wading through water.

The top of the tower was flat and smooth, the wind whipping at her clothes and hair, trying to drag her off. Zee widened her stance, breathing in the thick tangy smoke, grimacing at the taste in the air.

Her eyes were drawn towards the center of the tower where all that smoke was funneling downward, into a terrifying object.

Looking at it was like gazing upon an aberration. It hummed with a deep note, spasming in mid-air, like it was a beating heart.

Her skin prickled her spatial ripple skill recoiling, refusing to intrude on the domain of the object.

Kur Zul floated over towards the center of the tower pausing a few feet from the profane object. Seeming unfazed by the suffocating atmosphere the specter spoke.

"This is the profane object I want you to take away from here." The ghost said, its form roiling around, as though he was mirroring the sky.

Zee glanced from the clearly powerful natural treasure back to the ghost." What is it?" Zee asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry about that, just take it. Once you do, I will help you fix the problems you are having with your splinter," Kur Zul said, its voice friendly.

"And how do I remove it without killing myself," Zee asked, feigning a calm she didn't feel.

"Easy enough. Simply walk over and grab hold of it." Kur Zul said, eagerly.

"You just said you have something to help me fix my splinter, I want that first," Zee demanded, feeling as though she could get away with a little rudeness considering how badly the ghost wanted her to take this thing.

The ghost hummed, practically vibrating with both irritation and excitement.

"Just take it. I will give you the reward I promised once you remove this thing from my tower." Kur Zul insisted, the tower shaking a little as he released some of his irritation.

So much for the nice ghost. It was showing its true colors now. Zee took a step forward, defying all instincts for self-preservation as she approached the object.

Wading through the thick yellow Smaug, she paused, her hand mere inches away from the object.

With each beat, the heart dragged in colossal amounts of the yellow smoke, releasing a hair-raising pressure.

She glanced back to the giddy ghost a half dozen meters away. Well, here goes nothing. One hand touched the heart, while the other grasped a spike as it appeared in the air in front of her.

Kur Zul screamed in rage and fear, the tower shaking as he tried to stop her. It was too late. Petrie's cruel spike dug into the heart, piercing it clean through.

Her vision turned white, Kur Zuls screams loud enough to make her ears bleed. In the next instant, some weird things happened. The dying heart, spike included turned liquid, and was sucked into her body.

Zee blacked out for a moment, snapping back to consciousness as the tower collapsed beneath her.

Metal sloshed, creaking and groaning as she fell into it. The tower was no longer a solid material, instead flowing like it was a thick syrup.

In defiance of all common sense and reason, the tower, and ghost were sucked into her body, dragged in with the skewered heart.

She screamed, a battle raging in her mind, as the heart, and then the tower poured into her cracked splinter.

Deep cracks spread through her splinter, each one causing a pain that struck her to her core. It felt like her soul was being scoured, her body threatening to tear itself apart.

Zee threw everything she had at her splinter, desperate to keep her splinter from shattering.

She drained her well of mental energy in seconds, trying to compress her splinter to relieve the stress.

All of her efforts hardly slowed the cracks, as the impossibly large tower forced itself inside her splinter.

Momentary relief filled her as deep blue flames flooded from her chest, rushing into the mix. The flames mixed with her mental energy soothing the cracks, as the heart of fire beat like a war drum in her chest. Zee didn't have time to wonder about that, as something attacked her mind.

Kur Zul's presence flooded her mind, his presence forcing her consciousness deeper into her body towards the splinter in her mind.

Caught completely off guard, she lost control of her arms and legs. Zee flailed for a moment but eventually found her mental footing.

The damned ghost was trying to possess her. Zee gritted her teeth and refused to release her mental grip, fighting the possession with every fiber of her being.

Still, she was losing. Kur Zul pushed her back with an iron will, taking over one body part at a time.

"No! No! No! This is my body!" Zee shouted, railing against the mental attack.

"Stop struggling, just let go." Kur Zul shouted, its deafening voice enough to make her recoil.

She flailed internally, all of her consciousness pushed into a suffocatingly small part of her mind. She felt so small, like a passenger in her own body.

"Dern. I know you are hurt, but this stupid ghost is trying to take over my body. Help!" Zee shouted, panicked.

"Can't you see that I am trying to keep our splinter from exploding?" Dern snapped, his mental voice strained.

"You two need to stop struggling or you will get us all killed." Kur Zul said.

"Shut up you slimy bastard." They both shouted in unison.

Zee used the ghost's momentary distraction to regain control over her torso with a burst of mental energy.

It was a short-lived victory, as Kur Zul retook it a few seconds later.

"Dern, this isn't working. Stop what you are doing and help me or we are both going to be stuck inside the splinter." Zee threatened.

"Fine... But if we die, I am coming back to strangle you." Dern said.

Dern had always had strong mental defenses, able to ward off her intrusions and peek into her mind at his Leisure.

Since meeting him, she had gotten stronger, improving her mental defenses, now able to keep him out when she wanted to.

Zee had thought their mental strength was close. She was so wrong.

The ghost screamed as Dern attacked, slamming a tsunami of mental energy into her body.

With his mental energy invading her body, their energies became mixed, and their minds linked, becoming one, a shared consciousness.

This was far deeper than simply reading his mind. She experienced his thoughts and a deep overwhelming hunger on a personal level and was startled that he was even conscious at all.

She didn't have much time to think about Dern's problems, as he used their combined energy, immediately pushing Kur Zul back.

It would have been a quick victory if they didn't run into a problem. They couldn't eject the ghost so easily, as its spark was attached to the heart which had invaded her splinter. With reluctance, the duo forced the intruder into their splinter, to be caged inside.

That only solved the first and smallest problem. Their splinter, which was a tether to the soul was about to burst, killing them both. It couldn't handle the strain of forming an inner world.

At least not unless something drastic was done. Guided by Dern's knowledge of the soul, Zee cut off a part of herself, and Dern the same. Under Dern's expert care, two streams of energy appeared to enclose their splinter.

Hers was dark and majestic like space itself while he was bright silver, emanating a deep hunger.

Both streams weaved together, guided to form a net that bound tightly around the splinter. Layer after layer formed, and the splinter grew, pushing to form a fragment.

Yet, even after its formation, the fragment still shook, immediately covered in more cracks, on the precipice of erupting. They needed a stronger cage to contain the inner world. This prompted the two to do something even more rash.

They reached inward, and pulled, stealing a piece of their prisoner's soul to add on more layers to the fragment. This was a heretical act, to forcibly steal a piece of someone's soul, but the two didn't feel that bad about it. The ghost was the one who got them into this mess after all.

The tendrils of the ghost's soul, guided by Dern's half created five more layers, sealing most of the cracks.

It was not perfect, but their three souls combined should be enough to contain the burgeoning inner world, at least for now.

Zees' mind reeled, as their moment of oneness faded. She felt Dern's mind retreat, fading into the newly created fragment, the connection falling away.

With their connection severed, she was horrified at what they had done. Not only had she absorbed another spirit into her body, but they formed an inner world and a fragment that was on the edge of bursting to contain it.

It was both an amazing accomplishment and a distressing turn of events. Zee was not looking forward to dealing with Kur Zul when the ghost tried to escape its imprisonment again.

Nor was she excited about dealing with an inner world threatening to tear her apart.

But she could deal with all that later, as a more pressing issue appeared. With the tower absorbed, she was suddenly thousands of meters in the sky, falling toward the ground at a breakneck pace.

The winds howled around her, her hair whipping around her face as she was suddenly falling.

Exhausted she rolled onto her chest, watching the rubble at the base of the tower rapidly approach.

This felt like Deja Vous. At least there wasn't a giant crystal falling with her this time.

Zee let out a weary sigh, wrung dry from the harrowing experiences in the tower. On the bright side, she should have enough energy to activate her movement skill.

It would be an uncomfortable experience given her energy reserves were at rock bottom. Heh, rock bottom.

Amusement flooded into her mind from Dern's fragment. They weren't words but she was still incredibly relieved. He had retreated into her splinter, but Dern was still there, his comforting presence at the back of her mind.

It made her grin like an idiot, despite plummeting toward the ground at a reckless speed.

It would be a deadly fall for most, but it was a mere inconvenience at best for her. Her mist form was awesome like that.

After a tediously long fall, she came out of her mist form landing softly amidst the rubble at the base of the tower.

Zee let out a hiss of pain, clutching at her head, suddenly woozy.

Energy starvation sucked! Squinting at the sudden stabbing pain in her head, she massaged her temples looking around.

The wreckage around her was quite impressive, a dark hole in the ground where the tower once stood.

She was on the edge of said hole, amidst the crumbling rock that once led up to the tower. Picking a direction at random, she immediately set off, pushing back the pain, to get clear of the area.

No telling what kind of problems would show up to investigate the area. Especially since the tower vanishing into thin air had to be visible from miles away.

Zee most certainly did not want to be around when others showed up to investigate. As she trudged through the streets, and over the rubble of destroyed houses she noticed something odd in the sky.

Fissures that seemed to be gradually spreading far above. It was a bizarre phenomenon, at least until she remembered a certain detail.

Hadn't Petrie told her that the planar space would start falling apart once she took the heart?

Zee hadn't been certain what that would look like. As it turns out, Petrie had been very literal in her words.

What a mess. It was starting to look like she was a woman that only left destruction in her wake.

She found a cozy little basement and went inside, collapsing onto the dusty rubble. So what if the planar space was falling apart, that was a tomorrow problem.

In the meantime, she was going to get a solid ten hours of rest. She was far too exhausted to keep going. Zee didn't even care that she lacked any bedroll or a bed, her overtaxed mind too exhausted to worry about that.

She fell into an extremely deep, and thoughtless meditation. It was closer to unconsciousness than actual meditation, but that was just how worn out she truly was.

Her trip to the tundra, then her foray into the Null, followed by a harrowing ordeal in the tower were enough to make anyone pass out for a week.