Chapter 28: Release

Finally I am free. The opportunities for my augmentation increase by enormous proportions with all of dusk available. I can collect the resources necessary for my needs while the physical enhancements I plan on empower my chances of survival. I will no longer need to fear.

Jack’s disgust proved useful. His ignorance of my plight weighs on my thoughts more than I anticipated. The way he judges my own desires as carnal parades his own prejudice. He believes I intend to misform his frame. I aim for my own preservation, and if my anger convinces him of allowing my alterations, then my fury shall flare like a rabid dog.

With these thoughts, I raise myself from the bed with awkward movements. My attempts for a mute escape prove futile as I jerk and snap my way out of the room. I manage to close the door with a precise movement that left Luke asleep. His waking would of prove problematic.

As I shuffle outside, students stare at me with questioning gazes. I ignore them as their thoughts mean nothing to me.

I reach outside of the dorm where I speed my pace transforming my shambling into a hobble. Running on all fours would attract far more attention than needed, so this slow, dismal trot will suffice for now.

I near the edge of the campus that borders the forest when I trip on a root near a tree. Since my foot hooked under the obstacle, my forward momentum shoves me towards the ground. I crash into the dirt.

A heavy thud sounds through the area as I land. As I push myself upwards with my arms, a high pitched voice yelps, “What was that?”

Overlooking her question, I rise to my feet with wobbling knees despite my stabilizing efforts. My attempts of escape fail as a small girl walks from behind the tree with a large book in hand before I shuffle away. The moonlight reveals her pale, freckled skin and her gangly frame. Her soul barely holds to her body while one strike of my fist would smash her into paste, so she proves useless to me.

Yet she still says, “Are you alright?”

“Use your eyes. Do I look fine?”

“Uh, I guess so.”

“Then ask yourself first before you show others your stupidity.”

She places a hand on her hip retorting, “I just asked if you were alright.”

I roll my eyes as I say, “Observe an example. Are you a girl?”

She grumbles, “What does that have to do with this?”

I state, “Can you not even answer a simple question?”

She hisses, “Yes, I am a girl.”

I say with slow words, “Do you see how irritating it is now?”

She “What, you being an idiot?”

“Ah, so you still fail to understand. There is no hope for you. And I thought Jack was dull.”

She growls, “I didn’t do a damn thing! You're the one being a jerk.”

“I have an intricate understanding of just how little you have done here, believe me. Let me explain my earl-”

“What’s your problem-”

I blare, “Do not interrupt me.”

She silences under my assertion, so I continue, “You asked me a question that you already knew the answer for, so I did the same. I offer you an explanation of your mistake while you berate me with loaded questions aiming for my anger.”

She stammers, “Y-your tone was uncalled for, so I retaliated.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I say, “Answer me this. Imagine if you had to share your mind with an idiot. How patient would you be of their absurdity?”

Her eyes loop upwards and to the side for a moment as she ponders before she answers. She learns not to throw her words without care rather quickly. Interesting.

She says while looking towards me, “I would become intolerant of it.”

I open my arms wide while leaning my face towards her voicing, “Then offer me your sympathy.”

she crosses her arms saying, “Alright then, I’ll ask a different question. How did you fall on the ground so hard?”

I look towards the sky outstretching my arms gasping, “Will you ever learn?”

she snaps, “Is it really that obvious an answer?”

“Yes. I’m heavy.”

She jabbers, “Well, why are you heavy then?”

I shake my head in a vain attempt to comprehend her aims, “Is this an interrogation? Just let me be.”

She points her finger at me hissing, “You're the one that started a damn earthquake right beside where I was reading. Instead of just chiding you, I ask if you're alright then you just act like I’m dumb for some arbitrary reason. Fuck you.”

she walks up rearing back her arm. Once she nears me, she slams her palm into my cheek. The force of her strike rebounds back into her hand from my face as I stand still as a rock.

She howls, “GAHHH. What is your face made of?”

I smirk replying, “Something heavy.”

She shouts, “You're infuriating! It’s like you're made to piss me off.”

I reach out and thump her nose. She reddens as her veins bulge, but I say, “Learn to control your own emotions. You’re allowing everyone around you to control you like you're a tool.”

As I turn around she shouts, “No one controls me!”

I look back towards her falling on one knee. As I stare into her eyes, I whisper, “Your visage is both gorgeous and graceful. Your supple frame incites my desire, and your words bind me as I listen.”

she meets my gaze at first, but after mere moments, she rips her eyes from mine as her skin flushes further.

Before she recovers, I stand up saying, “My words cripple you. Question yourself before you question others. I have no more time to waste here. Goodbye.”

As I shuffle away she shouts, “You walk like a moron.”

I look back grinning, “At least I do not speak like one.”

These other humans prove easier to verbally crush than Jack. Instead of offering mature responses, they lash out with emotional responses that fall under scrutiny. The temptation to turn around and berate her further fills me, but I quell the sensation so I may move forward. I have more pressing concerns.

By the time I reach several miles into the forest, my control over the motor systems of Jack’s body enlarge from barely stable enough to walk to running chaotically. The arduous process tests my patience, but I must learn at least this on how to control this anatomy as Jack will only allow this set of joints as his base.

This wastes potential, but his, “soul,” stops me from controlling this bodies form except his own admissions. Adjusting his form with his aesthetic in mind magnifies the difficulty involved, yet these precautions persist as my only option.

As I morph and augment Jack’s frame, the sounds of insects and birds singing around me lessen. My breathing hastens as my yearning for material accentuates. Finding lead and other metals will require sacking the university as the elements only exist in trace amounts in organic matter.

As I collect insects from the nearby area, the raccoons and other animals of the forest catch my interest. They sit hibernating in holes and burrows throughout the forest. They offer perfect opportunities for harvesting useful substances.

Growing claws from my fingers, I sprint towards a tree where I plunge my talons into the soft wood. The noise awakens the animals within, but no chance for their escape shows itself. I rip and tear through the animals plush fur and brittle bones as I suck up their souls and innards. Delicious nutrients and resources pass through my mouth allowing for augmentations throughout my body.

I use the bones of the creature densifying my own, but the process proves arduous. Converting the bones into enamel requires many times their weight in the skeletons of other creatures while reorganizing Jack’s collagen grates at my endurance.

If I succeed in my endeavours, I’ll produce bones many times stronger with greater elasticity. The tendons of my joints will become flexible with many times their current tensile strength, but Jack refuses any discussion on the matter. I alone tackle the problem.

However, the souls of the consolidated offer me the resources I need. I absorbed the mind of a doctor who studied the bodies of children. He would strap them to tables while they were alive tearing through their organs and skin laughing as he did so.

He gained a sort of sadistic pleasure from the act. I tore his soul apart listening to his screams as his mindless insanity disturbed me, but he learned much about the human body. I utilize his knowledge for my gain.

Hours pass as I hunt and kill prey. The mass of my body peaks until I saturate my need for organic materials, so I regurgitate the needless excess. Since I reach my goal for basic organic matter, I begin running back towards Jack’s dorm.

Once I reach the campus, I search and pilfer numerous metal objects using the shadows of the university’s foliage for a disguise. This allows my collection to continue unhindered by other unenlightened individuals.

People begin walking through the campus. A group of janitors trim and slice the plants while cleaning the glass bulbs surrounding the lamps lining the walkways. They maintain the torches by touching the silver links with a black stone that absorbs light.

The void like device terminates the soul’s powering connection with the torch ending the device’s flame and heat. Afterwards, they restock the fire with a chunk of green wood reigniting the flame.

The block would change color to whatever the torch’s previous flame color was. The fire blazes from the block soon after the finish. The black void may eliminate some of my limitations in the future, but I must return before Jack awakens.

Whenever I reach the top of the dorm, I warp my form until I resemble the previous form of Jack with only a slight change in skin color and a massive shift in weight. In order to maintain his secrecy, I shall mimic the effects of being sick. This will fool most of the keener humans who notice the change while lessening the suspicions of those not so easily fooled.

As I pass through the dorm, the same girl who assailed me with stupidity sits under the tree. She bleeds from her neck with pulsing movements as she loses her life.

Panic fills me without reason. I leap from my ledge slamming into the ground with enough force that the earth produces small fissures. My joints creak, but I repair the ruptured cartilage and torn joints dashing towards her as I rip the earth with my steps.

When I appear, her gaze peers toward me. Our eyes meet as she mutters, “Great. I get to meet this asshole before I die.”

My throat burns as I gasp, “What do you mean? Who has done this to you?”

She replies mumbling, “I...I don’t know.”

I growl, “I shall crack their soul in my palm. Let me heal you.”

She smiles without strength or will as she mutters, “I can barely breath. My chest is heavy. My vision blurs. My limbs are dull. I can no longer feel them. Thanks for the offer, but I’m dead.”

I smirk as I reply, “Not yet.”

Her soul's weakness allows my complete manipulation, so I place my hand on her throat. As I begin entering her body through spikes on my skin, I clamp my other hand on her mouth. She screams in agony as I drill veins into her neck that levy her own body’s resources with efficient allocation.

I breathe my words, “Calm yourself. If you accept my help wholeheartedly, then the pain will cease.”

Her breathing calms down, and her soul’s control weakens as she accepts my help. Her wounds heal while I inject her unique blood type into her through my fixed placements. I numb her pain receptors granting her peace during the procedure.

After I complete the mending, I release my grip while unlatching myself from her without a trace of my biological tampering present from before. She says with increased strength, “How did you fix me?”

I lift my head so that I stare down at her accentuating my words, “Ask yourself before you ask me. I have someone to meet.”

I roar, “HELP. I need help. Blood covers this girl, and she needs medical assistance.”

We sit near a thick oak tree that shades the entire area hiding us from the gazes of others, but when I howl, the beating of footsteps thumps in the air until two workers appear huffing. I say,

“See this girl. Take her to the nearest medical facility. I am a new student here, so I do not know where that is.”

A worker replies, “Do you know what happened to her?”

I snap, “She needs to be saved right now. She is soaked in her own blood, yet you quiz me instead of assist her? Prioritize you fool.”

He stammers back, “I...Ah, alright. I j-just thought...Sorry.”

They lift her from under her shoulders and grabbing under her knees. As they saunter off, I yell, “I shall report this to the authorities. Just make sure she is safe.”

My empathy stems from Jack’s own emotions. They leak into me from his rest, so I saved the girl appeasing his the sensations. That is the reason. I did not help a human without reason. I did not.

As I return to the dorm, Jack’s conscious flares from his slumber as he awakens. Before he says anything to me, I sigh, “So you finally awaken.”

He replies after moment with a soft voice, “This is unusual. So this is what waking up without control of your body feels like. Strange.”

I snicker, “Hah, you’ll come to welcome it. The grogginess that spawns from your lack of movement will never exist. You shall never feel physically tired again.”

He replies with a high voice, “Well then, did you finish your...adjustments.”

Even if I couldn’t read his mind, his discomfort radiates from his speech, so I say, “Almost all of them. The other changes will be far more gradual.”

“I would rather not know the details. Do you want to keep control?”

“No. Interacting with other humans is tiresome. I wish to rest through your classes as they are dull and meaningless.”

“They only lack meaning for the narrow minded.”

“Explain how astronomy will help you?”

“Well...”

“Then I rest my case.”

Jack pushes me from the conscious where I file back into the recesses of his mind. The comforting sensation relaxes me, so I drift into slumber as controlling my body proved exhausting. Jack’s last thoughts before I rest resonate in my mind.

‘I wonder who he talked to.’

------------------------------------------------------

As my conscious resurfaces I wonder who Deluge spoke with. Hopefully the repercussions hit me more like a mild pat rather than an iron fist.

I jostle my joints noticing slight adjustments throughout my physique. My balance shifts from an even distribution to a more centered one since my bone’s weight jerks on my frame with a disproportionate pull. With the alterations in mind, I stare into the mirror anticipating the worst.

The results fail to match my expectations thankfully. My skin tanned somewhat, but the terrifying abomination I expected still haunts my dreams. Some of my muscles insert in different places allowing for superior leverage while supporting my bones. As I move my joints, the mutations feel natural like I regained old senses.

The organic sensation calms my unease, so I change clothes into a less destroyed pair. The clean clothes brush against me with their smooth fabric, but the mild tightness around my shoulders gives me slight discomfort. I shove the feeling aside as I step outside my room towards the soul forge with my cloak and sword.

As I reach the building, the sound of a hammer beating on a chisel occupies my ears. Alastair beats on a metal plate engraving a series of the runes he showed us in class, and sweat pours from his forehead as he struggles to shape the metal. Due to his struggle, I offer my assistance.

“Hello Alastair, do you need help?”

He looks up huffing for breath with his hair streaking across his face. After a moment, he replies, “If you would be so kind though the work's hard.”

As I walk up, an irrepressible urge to cough hits me, so heave with my chest hacking as I do so. Alastair hands me the tools after my fit as he stands up. He questions, “So you’ve taken on a rather hateful cough then. I was wondering why you looked so...different.”

My mind links the chains together as realization strikes me. Deluge’ll blame my physical changes on some fake sickness. Clever.

I reply hoarsely, “As the winter wanes, my own sickness grows. regardless, what symbols are you engraving in this metal?”

He lifts his hand beginning his lecture, “Do you remember the elemental symbols from before?”

I nod saying, “Of course.”

A small smile of satisfaction grows on his lips as he replies, “Excellent. Those marks will be a part of your class later today actually. You see this blue print? replicate the patterns here onto the iron if you can.”

As I alternate my gaze from the blueprints to the metal plate, I pound against the chisel with the hammer shearing the metal with relative ease. The iron bends under my will while I eventually sweat from the exertion.

The work takes a sizable portion of effort and time, but I finish the assignment under his supervision in under an hour. The rugged marks on the slab illustrate my ametuer efforts, but I complete the task either way.

Alastair comments, “You managed to finish the assignment quicker than any I’ve seen though the work ended up quite rough.”

I reply, “Does the precision matter?”

He nods while saying, “Absolutely. The material I’m working with here is rather difficult for beginners though. Most people struggle tremendously when working with iron, you’ve got a lot of strength in you ey?”

I frown as I mumble, “More than I’d like really.”

He chuckles while patting me on my back with a furtive look on his face like he’s peering in a mirror.

After a moment, he replies, “Heh, heh, you just have to learn to deal with your strengths and weaknesses. Did you ever think over my earlier suggestion?”

I place my chin on my index finger and thumb as I ponder for a moment. The thought of assembling a golem army tempts me, but Deluge will fight every single moment of such a crude plan with every ounce of his being until both our minds crack till we are both broken.

Learning the secrets of how soul forging works may grant me a better understanding of how Deluge works as well as the entity that unhinges Deluge’s goals. Squaloring in my own ignorance dissatisfies my curiosity, so my decision clarifies.

I say with a teasing voice, “I suppose starting an extracurricular project may sound exciting.”

Alastair claps his hands as he cheers, “Fantastic. I have already recruited another student who will assist you with the more precise elements while you offer the brute force of your mind and body. The prospects of the duo shows promise. Oh I’m so excited.”

His jovial attitude infects me as I say, “Who shall I be paired with?”

He beams, “She’s a rather lonely girl. Her name’s Sophia. you’re a rather assertive individual, so I believe you two will round each other out nicely.”

Other members of the class file into the room over the course of our speech, so I split off from the conversation meeting up with Luke.

I say, “You ready for class?”

He squints his eyes as if he stares into a bottomless abyss , “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Hahaha. It isn’t so awful as you presume. I will assist you as you need help.”

“Then you’d better prepare for offering a lot of help.”

Alastair interrupts us as he begins another lecture with a booming start, “Here we have a golem that can be controlled using a soul siphon. These are special gems that require specific cuts and tempering in order to allow for such a function. Does anyone see any problems with such a gem?”

After a moment of silence, Luke raises his hand saying, “You wouldn’t want the thing to take your soul right?”

Alastair lifts one of his hand towards his chest while pointing towards the ceiling as says, “Exactly. The way we as soul forgers prevent such tragedy is through the usage of our wills.”

He walks around the room saying, “The will of the user protects them from letting too much of their soul split from their body. Some people struggle with resisting such an unstable device while a some even strife to let the device use more of their souls. Do any of you have any ideas of how we fix such problems?”

No one answers the question, so Alastair prods with another question redirecting our train of thought, “Well, how does someone train their will?”

I cough before I reply with a flat voice, “Through hardship or discipline.”

Alastair frowns as he replies, “Well, perhaps, but we’re aiming for more pleasent means. The methods I’m referring to are reinforcement and planning. If you can convince yourself of the importance of a matter or plan it out, then you’re more likely to act on it.”

He tilts his head towards the left while lifting his left hand continuing, “So we apply the concepts to siphoning. We reinforce the link between the golem and us through visualization while planning out the procedure.”

A girl interrupts, “So we just...imagine a link or something?”

Alastair outstretches his left hand while lifting his right when he says, “Ah, that isn’t far off. In today’s exercise, we will be using this here golem with my supervision to let you all test out the concept. Are you all ready?”

The class cheers. The short lectures followed by long practice sessions engage me far more than the mindless droning of the astronomy professor.

Unfortunately, the difficulty of the siphoning process hounds me with the tenacity of a berserk squirrel running across my body. None of my soul will even begin to enter the siphon of the damn construct. With each passing second, sweat forms beads on my forehead as I try overwhelming the device with sheer effort.

Even after many minutes the golem resists my aims until the gem cracks flinging shards from its socket. My right arm jerks upward as a gem pierces my palm two inches deep into my flesh with a sickening squelch. Students scream and shout at the sudden violence.

The piercing pain from my palm instigates a slight wince from me, but I quell the sensation as I ask Alastair, “What just happened?”

He raises his eyebrows stammering, “I-I...I don’t know.”

I pull the gem from my hand as I stand up sounding a sliding of stone against thick liquid. One of the other students represses a gag while the guy I saved still had his eyes closed as I reply, “Well, I failed here. I need to go to the medical center as the cut’s rather deep.”

The sense in my words knocks Alastair from his stupor as he replies, “Of course. Do you need someone to help get you there? That looks pretty gastly.”

I shake my head as I sigh, “No, I will do this on my own.” I gesture the blood covered gem toward him asking, “Do you need this?”

He rears back recoiling from object in disgust, “Uhh. No.”

I raise an eyebrow as I reply, “Does a little blood bother you?”

He squints saying, “I don’t understand you Jack. Sometimes you're a gentle student with a keen mind. At other times you're like an animal. It just...throws me off.”

His words slice into my psyche. My mind isn’t my own, but I don’t need his words fortifying my knowledge.

As I grit my teeth, I growl, “Then like a wounded animal, I’ll retreat.”

I turn pacing out of the class with heavy stomps while Deluge regenerates my hand. My vision blurs as I reach for Deluge in my mind. Only silence returns my call, so I walk up under a tree gripping my knees against my chest out of plain view. Here I headbutt my knees enough that my vision shakes but no damage is done towards my skull.

The lines separating Deluge and I thin each passing day. My feeling of self deteriorates as he bleeds into me, or at least, I believe so.

Deluge interjects my thoughts, “You're obsession with yourself is trivial.”

I roll my eyes as I say, “Oh, please explain.”

He says, “Your experiences change you, yet you embrace those developments. Whenever our alliance changes your mind, you panic in a frenzy. Your thoughts influence me just as mine influence yours. Accept it and move forward.”

I reply with a sour voice, “I just want to be me.”

Deluge sighs in my mind before he replies, “You would be dead without me. Your a weak, pathetic child who grows weak every few days over your own loneliness.”

With each of his syllables, he whips at my mind, yet he continues, “But even with your flaws, you connect those around you with greater perfection then I will ever replicate. Your music speaks even to me. Your will is like iron. Your mind is clear. Have faith in yourself Jack, and I'll do the same.”

With a scornful grin, I reply, “Your faith is misplaced.”

He snickers, “Hah, hah, perhaps, but I have no choice do I?”

My smile grows more genuine as I reply, “I suppose I don’t either.”

“Then move past this. We have much to do and many miles to go before we sleep.”

After a pause, I mention, “Thanks for clearing my thoughts.”

“If only you had some to clear.”

The familiar mockery bolsters my spirit, and I stand up walking towards the gem chaining building preparing myself for another day's training. The thought of facing a fully powered Petra sends sparks of excitement and anxiety up my spine.

I pace across the campus noticing several wispy clouds before I reach inside the building. After I enter, the fighters stare at me with absent looks as if staring at a freak. Their glances intermingle with awe and fear, and Petra suits herself in full plate armor that shines even in the low light on the other side of the building.

Gems of different colors imbed themselves within sockets across her hands, elbows, and her feet. The small stones show intricate facets of varying designs while smooth, crisp lines crawl across her chest plate forming the image of a sword and shield. Without any of her physique showing, her gender nulls until she becomes androgynous.

The intimidating splendor provokes my own nervousness, but I walk up saying, “So this is Petra at her best?”

She laughs a single hah with her voice muffling under the metal. The helmet adapts her voice to a deeper, echoing grumble as she replies, “Not even, but it’s more than enough for you.”

I crack my hands as I reply with a smirk, “Let’s Hope.”

Her eyes squint through her guards as she replies, “I heard you threatened to rip out another students entrails with their own arms. Any truth to that?”

The pressure in my face builds as reden before I reply, “Uh, yeah. The moment swept me away.”

She shakes her head while rasping, “I won’t teach you anymore if I hear of another incident again. Control yourself. You represent the first years. Act like it.”

As I wince at her words, I reply, “I’m sorry. It will not happen again.”

She clangs her fists together saying, “Good. Are you ready for today's training?”

“Of course.”

“Then let’s get started kicking your ass.”

I clench my fist in front of my chest as I lean towards while I say,

“Hah, I look forward to it.”