Chapter 56

When I wearily reopened my eyes, I found myself back in the void state I previously found myself in, which left me half dumbfounded, and extremely paranoid that Isaiah would be lurking somewhere, but I had to keep my mind off of him, or else he would track me down again.

"Does the void state have a mind of its own, once someone enters it they don't have control over where or how they end up here?"

I sat down in the void state before closing my eyes and visualizing the string, the anchor and the usual rituals. But suddenly, the void state began to shake again, except there were no spirits or astral traces of Isaiah's presence anywhere in the void state, there was only me, who was surrounded by the shaking void.

At that moment, the area around me started to glow a dim, illusory red shade, similar to that eye that glared at me previously. And the floor, which was nothing except darkness, started to change and morph, changing into a black, marble floor.

To my left and right, black and red pillars of stone shot up like water from a fountain, stretching to an almost infinite height. And beyond the pillars, large cathedral-like walls shot up and arranged into the shape of a rectangular room, with the pillars on either side.

And in between the 2 front pillars, an illusory seat was formed from the residual material of the void state that was left from this sudden transformation. And black tentacles sprouted from the back of the seat, which I could clearly see now was a throne.

"What is this?"

I thought to myself as I looked around this throne room that I've been summoned in, except there was no queen or king greeting me at the seat, I was completely alone in this throne room, all alone.

I looked down at the carpet below my feet, which had a pattern of black tentacles shooting out from either side, all grouping at the center of the carpet. And the long carpet stretched towards the throne situated in the far end of the room, which faced a large, dome like window which extruded out towards the image of a black sky filled with stars, red stars.

Something in my mind told me to take a seat on the throne, but I felt like something bad would happen. What if this was a trap, an illusion set by the residual traces of Isaiah's spirit body? What if this was an illusion fabricated by the void state, which for some reason fell under Isaiah's control. 

I didn't have time to answer the questions as I walked over to the throne, before taking a seat slowly. At that moment, I felt a rush of cold, brutal energy run through my body like an electric shock, except it wasn't painful in any way, it felt like a dominance aura or a wave of adrenaline of some sort.

I then turned my head and looked outside the dome like window, which reflected the illusory scene of the cosmos and stars which shone dimly on the image of the night sky.

Suddenly, all the attention and authority of the room shrank back, and I felt myself being pulled out of this scene, and back towards my conscious state.

Waking up in a cold sweat, I immediately looked towards the clock, which read 1:27 AM, my encounter with Isaiah and seeing that flesh blob was about 3 hours ago, and I wasn't asleep for that long, probably an effect of his influence somehow.

I picked up the book I was previously reading, and flipped it towards the page I left off on, which told me about the aspects of losing control and other secrets, and there was an image of a sealed artifact plastered in the upper left hand corner of the page.

The artifact was called The Prowler, and it allowed a being to invade another person's soul and mind upon anyone thinking about them.

Just then, the revelation hit me when I read the section that described the side effects of the artifact's usage, turning into a beast.

"Isaiah used the artifact to invade my mind, and the side effects are turning into an unimaginable horror, so the artifact he stole must have had a greater purpose."

But why would this artifact appear so idly in a section of losing control in a book like this, wouldn't it be inside a book dedicated to sealed artifacts of some kind?

Perhaps the connection between the 2 factors were so strong that they included the artifact as a warning sign for those who dare to wield it.

The next day after buying some breakfast and heading out the door after leaving Shinso a note stating that I'll be back soon, I headed to The Silencers headquarters to discuss the revelation among them, but upon entering I already saw that everyone was at the meeting table, discussing something, and they all collectively turned their heads to look at me.

"Just in time, we were discussing Demetruis's plan."

Aaron spoke up as he looked beyond me, only to see no sight of Shinso.

"Where's your friend?"

I looked behind me too, as if he was lost, but I knew he was still sleeping back at the apartment.

"He's back at the apartment, and I just blew the last of the Lumin I had to buy the carriage ride here."

He nodded and folded his hand slowly.

"Well, I'm not sure we'll need him at the moment."

Aaron's subtle carelessness put me on edge, but I just sat done and listened in on what they were speaking about, but my expression shifted towards Palau.

His face seemed calm, but his eyes had a small flicker of fear, a deep one.

"What's wrong with Palau?"

Everyone turned to look at him, Palau simply gave us a weird look before laughing quietly.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken up from what I saw last night."

At that moment Cattleya's expression faltered a little, and a glare of suspicion hit her face.

"What did you see?"

Officer Palau didn't respond for a little while, seeming hesitant about his findings. But eventually mustered up the courage to speak.

"A monster, just something hideous."

Cattleya's expression changed again as she pushed her glasses up, looking Palau dead in the eyes.

"What did it look like?"

Cattleya pressed further, leaning in a little closer to Palau. I could see Demetrius, Carter and Aaron giving him concerned and eager looks, this could be another possible lead towards Isaiah.

"Horrible, it was like a puddle of meat and flesh, with multiple eyes, legs, arms, ears, and other limbs shooting out of it like mold."

Cattleya pulled out a note that Madame Fitzgerald gave her before she departed from her house last night, it regarded the report about the member of the Nightshades who lost control, and faced a similar predicament to what happened.

"Although the Nightshades have been working precariously in an attempt to help Maxwell, he's only been going further and further down the lane of losing control further, for he's already been showing inexplicable signs of outbursts and shouting."

"Maxwell..."

Palau repeated that name under his breath, before taking a deep breath in. 

"I think I know who that note is referring to."

We all turned towards Palau, eager to hear what he had to say.

"He was a worker at the bakery, and rumors spread around the police department that he was deeply involved in drug trafficking in the dark market."

"A few years back the police forces ran a sudden investigation in his home, and found strange and suspicious items."

Cattleya spoke up before Cattleya could finish the last part of his sentence.

"What items?"

With the way she spoke everyone in the room could tell that Cattleya needed to learn this information urgently, but Officer Palau simply looked down at the table and shook his head.

"This raid was a secret one, even an officer of my rank couldn't access this information."

Suddenly Palau's expression faltered even more, as he remembered a particular set of eyes that glared in his direction.

Those eyes seemed familiar, and they contained an emotion he always read. Those eyes belonged to his fellow police partner, Ransom.

"Wait, Aaron."

Palau turned towards Aaron, his expression flickering with a sense of uncertainty and excitement.

"You can do divinational magic, right?"

Aaron nodded slowly, before sighing.

"I can, but that's something I haven't done in a long time."

Palau sighed upon hearing his response, before looking Aaron in the eyes.

"Ransom worked for the elite group of police officers, the ones that raided Maxwell's house for that investigation, he knows what the artifacts were, and we can make him speak."

Aaron smiled softly and took that idea into consideration, before standing up and turning towards Demetrius, whose plan was still waiting to be fully put into motion.

Demetrius pulled out the map he used to first track down Isaiah a few nights ago, and unfolded it onto the table, he then looked at all of us before nodding.

"Cattleya and Carter, you'll need to head to the craftsmen's shop to find anyone that works there and bring them back, and me, Aaron, Isaac and Shinso will head to where Palau found Ransom's...uhm...corpse."

Aizawa suddenly spoke up, who sat next to Carter.

"What will we do, I'm not gonna be designated to sit here for the rest of the day, aren't I?"

Demetrius pointed to another section of the map, where the police section was located near the bakery in the center of the kingdom.

"You, Palau and Carter will head to the police station to gather reports on the Nullifying bullets."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed.

"Why would we need Nullifying bullet reports?"

Carter turned to look at him and sighed softly.

"Well, when it comes to Isaiah, he was involved in the dark market trades with the Nullifying bullets. Demetrius told me that we need to get the reports to learn more about their abilities and how they exactly work."

Before Carter could continue, I interjected by speaking up.

"I know about the artifact he stole, and its true intentions."

Everyone turned to look at me, and Aaron spoke up after my sentence.

"The artifact he stole, what's its purpose?"

Before I told him, I pointed to a cluster of items in the back of Aaron's lab, which were common ingredients in divination rituals and magic of the sort.

"We'll need divine protection first."

Aaron nodded, a tiny glint of suspicion on his face as he grabbed the items and laid them on the table, before taking out the bottle of Night powder and sprinkling it into a rough circle around the table, before lighting a candle in the center.

"I read through some books regarding ritualistic magic, and I already knew what to do."

Aaron had many years in the field regarding this experience, and divination was one of the few types of magic he really specialized in besides alchemy.

"The artifact that Isaiah stole is actually used to invade people's minds, it happened to me when I was entering the void state of consciousness, and nearly drove me to losing control."

Everyone's eyes widened after I said that, and Aaron looked past my mop of brown hair to notice the new symbol engraved in my forehead.

"That symbol."

He muttered to himself, before approaching me and swiping it aside, to reveal the symbol on my forehead in the shape of a rune, similar to the runes I found in the book that initiated our search for the Nightshades.

"It's a Routeway symbol, but how did it form?"

"It formed following my spiritual invasion by Isaiah, and shortly after I reawakened in the void state, but the void quickly disappeared, and instead it brought me to a throne room of some sort."

Cattleya's eyes widened as she approached my forehead quickly, before handing me the control serum with haste.

"Drink, now."

I suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline, similar to the one I felt while sitting on the throne. I drank the potion quickly, and felt a small sensation in my body start to falter.

"Why did I have to drink it?"

Cattleya's expression as she glared at me was filled with worry and concern, before she spoke up in a worried tone.

"Once Isaiah invaded your void state, his residual divinity clung onto you like a parasite, now that he has access to you, he knows where you are, who you are, and your true intentions."

I looked towards the sacred ritual cases on the table, an oath to divine protections.

"But this rune is dedicated to nullifying any effects of divinity, and Isaiah can't access me this way."

Cattleya's blood ran cold after I said that.

"Your physical body can't be harmed, but your mental and spiritual body is still left vulnerable, and what was that you said about the throne room?"

I sighed, before speaking.

"The throne room was casted following my battle with Isaiah, the void state seemed to melt away and the room began to materialize around me."

Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she pulled out a book from a shelf nearby, before flipping to a page and pointing at a particular section.

"Usually, following a spiritual battle, one's void state and consciousness will cast a divine protection to safeguard their soul and consciousness. But it usually happens a few days or a few weeks after the divine attack is done."

"I don't know why your protection seal was cast so quickly, and that symbol on your forehead is awfully familiar."

I looked up at the symbol and put my finger on it, feeling the engraving on my forehead. The symbol was probably a marking of divine protection, but Cattleya, Aaron, Carter and Demetrius all had short trimmed hair, so I had full views of their foreheads. They didn't have any divine symbols.

"You don't have any symbols, why?"

Everyone in the group looked towards each other, while Aizawa appeared all the more disinterested while a little concerned while looking at me. 

"We haven't had our souls attacked before, so we have no need for divine protections or safeguards to be created."

Just then, I remembered what Aaron told me about the deity in the cosmos that took an interest in him and tried to attack his body. Shouldn't he have a symbol of some sort, or maybe he deity had been in full control this entire time, and Aaron is just a husk of his former self, and a puppet to the entity.

"We can talk about this later, we need to go through with the plan."