Whispers of a Dead Empire

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“Breathe in and out, slowly.” His raspy voice bore its way through my mind as I attempted to follow through with his instructions for the umpteenth time. Sitting here with my eyes closed was a lot harder than I could have imagined. I was itching to move around and do things, and sitting there trying to clear my mind wasn’t cutting it. It only made me want to move around even more than before. Damn the constant need to always be doing something.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes once more to clear my mind. The darkness filled my vision, and I attempted to force all the extra thoughts out of my mind. “Good, now Im going to tap my finger; try to focus on the beat.” His words tore through my brain, threatening to pull me away from my already tedious hold on relaxation. I bit my lip and nodded at him. Why did this have to be so hard? I forced my eyes to stay closed and slowly released a tightly held breath.

After a few seconds, I heard bone tap against a stone. Then another shortly after that. I focused on the sound and pushed the rest of the thoughts from my mind. I fought the desire to move my body. A few dozen taps later, I felt my mind spin, and a wave of vertigo assaulted me. I felt a creeping numbness start to fill my body as the sound of Kharon’s tapping slowly faded into oblivion.

So I could still interact with my system even though I was like this. I turned my head around. All around me was encompassing darkness that clung to my body. Okay, Calixa, you need to be smart about this. Do nothing else without further instruction from Kharon. Now the next question, how do I get out of here? It’s a skill. So what if I deactivated it? “Deactivate.” The words echoed in the darkness, which quickly faded away like sand on the wind, revealing Kharon sitting before me.

Kharon was there staring at me unblinkingly as his fingers kept tapping into the stone beside him. “I did it. The skill is unlocked.” I flexed my fingers and immediately felt different. It like I was more aware of myself and the layers that define who I am.

“Good. Now, this is the hard part. When you activate the skill again, you have to go as deep as possible into yourself to get to your soul. Once you get there, you have to fracture a piece off and drive it into an item.” I reached out and grabbed my phone and placed my hand over its cool screen, and gripped it tightly.

“How much do I need to break off? Will it hurt?” Those all seemed like pretty rational questions to be asking in a situation like this.

“You only need to break off a small fragment. The soul is a powerful thing, and it will heal its self over time. As for pain, I won’t lie to you; it will hurt.” I toyed with the casing of my phone for a moment, picking at a well-worn spot. I hate feeling the pain of any sort. Maybe this wasn’t the class for me, but it wasn’t like I could back down now.

“How do I fracture it?” I set my phone down on my lap and placed my hands over the top of it, and shifted my legs around to get comfortable.

“Once you are in your inner self and see your soul, you will find that it’s malleable to you. So it shouldn’t be too hard. Grab a portion of it and pull it out. Just be careful not to overdo it. As for the rest, that is up to you to figure out.” I bit my lip and nodded my head. It seemed easy enough. I crossed my legs and got ready to reactivate the meditation skill.

“Thank you, Kharon. I will do my best.” He nodded his skull, and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and thought about the meditation skill. The familiar sense of falling overwhelmed and the darkness returned as I became numb.

In all directions, the darkness seemed to stretch endlessly around me. So this was my inner self? How do I go deeper? Maybe I should use my mind and try to press down. As I exerted my mental influence, the surrounding darkness warped and shift.

Come on already, give. The darkness visibly bulged before it shattered like glass, revealing a small island that bobbed gently on the air. On each side, a vast blue horizon stretched in every direction. Coming from the bottom of the island was a thin, steady stream of glowing blue liquid. I wish I could say it was something like a magnificent waterfall, but it was more like a leaky pipe. Big enough to know it’s there, but nothing else.

As I gazed at this place, it made me wonder what it was. It was just a small island floating in my subconscious with magical-looking water. It looked lonely to be here, yet the surrounding air seemed to be filled with a tangible presence. But I knew that this wasn’t deep enough. I closed my eyes and pushed down again, and the world warped as gravity wrapped its tendrils around me once more.

The horizon shifted from light blue to deep, powerful orange. In the center of a boundless space sat a small rock platform. The platform's edges looked to be worn away and chipped from the constant barrage of orange bolts that struck its surface. Streaks of crimson energy shot through the sky, and small globs of blood orange liquid floated through the air. If I had to guess, I’m guessing the realm before was something involving mana and magic. This would be a Qi realm, guessing by the mystical orange color.

That would also mean that this still wasn’t deep enough. I looked around once more before I pushed down. This time it fought me, pushing back with all of its might. This world belongs to me, and it would not keep me out. I clenched my teeth and pushed with every fiber of my being before the realm warped once more, and gravity pulled me down.

The sky shifted to a ghostly grey, and in front of me was a ball of glowing white power that was in roughly the shape of a female. So this was my soul. I reached out, and my fingers brushed across the surface. The power clung to my fingertips like syrup, yet it felt like a feather. So this was what he meant when he said it was malleable. I would have to break a piece away and move it to my phone to complete this process.

I dropped my hand away and looked at the surrounding area. There was a ruined fountain next to me, and in front of my soul was the familiar sight of my phone. Black shapes were moving in the distance, and one sat in front of me.

So I could only see shapes through the darkness. Was this a spirit form then? One that allowed me to interact with everything? That would be the thing that makes the most sense or at least one that I could understand. Alright, now, let’s get this over with then, shall we?

I reached out and grabbed a piece of my soul. The bits of energy wrapped around my fingers, and I yanked it back. It stretched out, and I felt my body protest as a pain, unlike anything that I ever felt before coursed through my spirit form. It felt like something was on the verge of being shattered and a primal fear coursed through me, a fear that threatened to take over my body.

But I would not yield; I refused to back down from what I was about to do, no matter how wrong it felt or how bad it hurt. I started this, and I swear by whatever gods exist, I would complete it. I pulled again, and my soul gave way, and a piece pulled out.

This action instantly magnified whatever pain that I felt before, and I dropped to my knees. Molted lave poured through my veins as I felt the sphere in my chest shatter. My vision greyed for a moment, but I refused to yield. I stood up, and my spirit form groaned in protest. The sphere in front of me recoiled and shrank down, hiding away the hole that I just tore out.

My vision blurred again as the pain throbbed with the intensity of a jackhammer, and I stumbled as I tried to take a step forward towards my phone. I shoved down the oscillating pain as I reached out and grabbed my phone. My spectral hand gripped it and with my free hand, I pushed my soul into it. For a moment, the screen lit up as the power seeped into it before it began to meltdown. As this happened, the pain grew like a tsunami inside of me and chased away the grey haze, my vision shifted and I found myself back into my body, where the pain was further magnified.

I reached out and stuck my hand into the mass of melting material, and it quickly conformed to the shape of my right hand. But just as I did it, the smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils, and the resulting pain helped dull the edge of everything else.

But I was at my limit, the pain was driving me mad, and my vision was slowly fading, and my body refused to respond anymore. Hopefully, that was all I needed to do. I fell forward, and a pair of icy hands caught me and set me gently down as I began to lose all sensation.

My tired eyes read over the text that assaulted my vision relentlessly. My head throbbed, and my body ached in ways that I have never experienced. I really didn’t want to deal with this right now, but there was no other option to escape from this set of god-forsaken menus. Fine, then let’s see what you have to offer.

I read through the list and wiped away a few of the tears that were crawling down my cheek from reading the overly bright words. I instantly knocked off the D.P.S. and the Guardian option. Neither really seemed to fit me. After reading this list, I think the best option for me would be the hybrid milestone. Besides, once I hit my first milestone, I can pick another, so It wasn’t too big of a loss. I confirmed Hybrid, and the screen blinked away allowing my vision to be free once more.