Chapter 10:How did you get to that conclusion!?

A bright light green flashed in both their mental spaces and just like that, they were connected.

Normally, one would access their mental space at the first major milestone of their path, Usually, that's at the tenth step. Another way was to have a strong enough soul, such that the mental space opens on its own.

This, however, was a special case. Beast taming by use of soul methods was an incomparably rare technique, and incredibly dangerous as well.

Col was sent into his space. He was in front of a mountain range. It seemed to be an amalgamation of the tall mountains of the Outlands and the Vhumba mountains of the Eastern Highlands in Zimbabwe, his homelands.

Col felt mixed feelings seeing both those rugged terrains here. Although he could understand why. They had had a profound impact on him, after all. There were several other notable features but he didn't have the time to explore.

The skies were stormy in his mental space and green lightning kept rumbling. He felt that there were distortions in various places as well. These all represented his affinities.

He turned around and there, directly behind him, was an ominous dark rift in space. The rift hung in midair, suspended. It was unlike anything Col had ever seen or imagined. The thing was flat and 3 dimensional at the same time.

Col could feel that this thing spanned more than 3 dimensions. It, in itself, was chaotic. Energies swirled in there with violence. A constant supply of energy came out of it. It was dark, bright, and multicolored at the same time.

Col found that he couldn't even remember what it looked like. His perception was muddied and he could not understand. This was how the soul conduit manifested itself in reality. The soul was an esoteric and enigmatic entity.

This thing was way more than the system had said, that was one thing Col was certain of. There was no way something like this could be explained in so few words, if any could ever be adequate to describe it at all.

One thing Col did notice however was that he could retain what he saw on the borders of this thing. There were words, chaotic and a jumbled mess. The runes seemed to be an imperfect version of the Origin tongue he had seen the day before, at least he thought it was since he could recall this without coughing out blood.

Col would have loved to explore some more, however, he had a mission, and although there was supposed to be a time dilation, he didn't trust the spirit to give him access for long. The ones described on Earth were always fickle creatures.

Chuckling to himself and wondering where he found the guts to court death as many times as he did, Col jumped into the vortex.

Col felt as if Space, Time, and even Existence itself were compressed and stretched. He was in a tunnel that was open in the void. Nothing he saw made sense, nor did he have the ability to make it do so.

He became a passenger carried along. Without thought or emotion. And then he forgot all about it.

After an eternity that seemed to last a second, Col reached the other side of the vortex. And he found a blank space. His mental space was cluttered, Side from mountains, there were other things. Col had not had the opportunity to look through those spaces but something told him that he wouldn't be able to even if he tried.

But this space… was so pure. The fact that he was dealing with a newborn hit Col once again like a dump truck. Turning around to look and see if he could find a clue as to what to do, he ran straight into the space owner.

Once again they had a small amount of space between each other and they could have sworn that it wasn't there before.

However, after the initial jumpscare, he was taken aback. This girl was too cute! Col was not particularly attracted to children least of all newborns but this spirit just took the cake.

Its hair was a light green. The unusual color had dark and golden accents, the dark streaks were probably from Col's soul but the golden ones were a mystery. The intense green eyes were innocent and curious. It had a tiny and delicate frame. It was still a child but one could tell that it would be a shocking beauty as it grew older. Hell, it was already peerless as it stood.

It was floating, or standing on the void, so its eyes were level with Col. Its lips were red and sensual. The canines were probably a bit too prominent and it looked a bit like a juvenile vampire.

Col was stunned. It was his first time taking a proper look at the spirit. Dirt and grime had coated it the first time. That's when he smiled. Who wouldn't want to be served by a beauty?

'Partner… no…. good… thinks?'  

Suddenly Col was snapped out of his reverie. He had forgotten that their minds were touching and this blank slate of a creature was a genius at learning. It was already capable of forming complex thoughts.

It had sensed his less-than-optimum thoughts for it and blasted its way into his mind. He had to do what he had come here for and quick.

Luckily the thoughts had given him an in he could use

'Yes partners, we are partners. You Protect me I help you. Deal?' Col blasted back with his thoughts

He decided to confirm his position in its heart as soon as possible. After all, his survival depends on it.

'Partner… Who rules…. between us?'

The spirit threw a hard ball from the get-go. The issue of who to rule was the largest here. Had it picked up on why he was here? This was sticky indeed.

'We are partners. We both lead, and we both submit. It means that we submit when necessary, But we also lead when it is called for. However, you are still young and know nothing of the world, for now, leave the leading to me. Until you and I both agree that you are ready to grow up and mature. One thing that is important though, is that we shall never, ever, harm the interests of the other.'

Col turned quiet after his speech and waited for the spirit to digest. He had overwhelmed the spirit and hoped that it would be too confused to resist. As long as he gained its cooperation the rest would be way easier.

' I understand. We shall… Fight!'