Day 2

Kyle’s rehabilitation, Morning.

Spirit Realm, The Howling Forest.

Kyle woke up slowly, opening his eyes only to be met with the same darkness that permeated the forest he had fallen asleep to. He lay on a bed made of entangled vines, keeping himself safe and hidden among the many vines that fell from the tree branches above.

He sat up from his perch and glanced down, the pool of water below barely visible through the heavy mist. Without a second thought he leaped off and down into the water, feeling the cold and fresh liquid cleared his mind and body.

As he let himself sink down he summoned his Frostfire engulfing himself in it, the water grew colder and all the soot and sweat that covered his body and clothes were destroyed by the flames. Clean and refreshed he swam up, then remembering the past day he focused his Spirit on his palms and feet then climbed out of the water.

Kyle sighed as he felt his stomach angrily growling, he was hungry.

Then suddenly a movement in the pool caught his attention, a quick and long shadow that disappeared the moment he saw it. Kyle glanced around as he expanded his senses, feeling for whatever creature swam within these waters.

But he sensed nothing, either it was too far by now or…

Kyle slowly turned around as he felt a chill climb up his spine, as he heard the slithering tongue rapidly tasting the air behind him. He was met with a massive serpent, it’s scales a mixture of dark green and light brown, it’s eyes golden with bright green slits that expanded becoming more green than gold until a black slit now filled the centre.

The serpent opened it’s jaws and hissed loudly, lunging at Kyle fully intent on devouring him. Kyle reacted quickly, expanding his Spirit all around him and pushed the serpent’s toxic fangs away from him.

What he was met with was an equal response, the serpent expanded it’s own Spirit to clash with Kyle’s and ending it’s assault. It’ closed it’s maw as it hissed strangely, it was laughing?

“That should have woken you up splendidly.” said Silvester Soulfang as his form shifted to Spirit and shrunk down until only he stood facing Kyle in his Spiritbeast form “Still hungry child?” he asked with a raised brow..

Kyle hadn’t relaxed, his Spirit still engulfing him as he stood on guard and staring at Silvester ready for another attack “Somewhat…”.

“Good good.” Said Silvester as he raised his right hand and flicked his fingers, suddenly a blue orb of fluffy light formed in his other hand. He raised the orb forward, as if offering it to Kyle “Then eat.”

Kyle lowered his Spirit and stepped towards the serpent SpiritBeast, he stared at the orb “What is that?…A soul?” he could sense a consciousness within the orb but he couldn’t tell what it was.

“Does it matter?” Silvester asked as he watched Kyle carefully approaching the orb, eyes widening as he hungrily stared at it.

Kyle stood a few feet away from Silvester, rigidly staring at the orb. His hunger ate away at him from within, the same hollowness that constantly urged him to pounce had returned. It took everything he had to resist the urge, to resist the animalistic hunger that plagued his mind.

Silvester chuckled as he pulled the orb away from him, Kyle’s eyes hungrily followed it “You do well at resisting, broken so your soul is yet you still have so much control. I commend you little fox. But at the moment your resistance is for naught, this soul is nothing more than energy.” He looked into the dim blue light with a smirk “It was once a being, a smart creature capable of happiness and sadness. But everything must have an end, even us dead cannot exist forever.”

Silvester raised the soul towards Kyle again “This poor soul had had enough of existence, it scattered it’s consciousness and became this. A gathering of Spirit and other mana collected around what we call a Hollow.” He then retrieved his arm allowing the orb to float on it’s own “All it serves as now is as nutrition for others.”

Kyle swallowed, his own saliva collecting within his mouth as he approached the Hollow. He cautiously raised his hands around the orb, before suddenly it moved and he moved with it. Kyle lunged down at the Hollow as it suddenly flew off, too fast for him to catch it flew in a zig-zag motion away from him. So fast that the water rippled below it’s passing.

Kyle turned to look at Silvester in confusion, the serpent smirked in amusement “Well you cannot expect a soul to willingly let itself be devoured now? Definitely not as you approach it with such obvious bloodlust!” he laughed while turning to face the orb now several meters away from them “You must learn to control yourself better, I understand this is a highly difficult task for you…due to your handicap and whatnot.”

Silvester approached the Hollow as it hovered in place “Resist your urges as you may, it means naught if you cannot hide them from your enemy. Hungry as you might be, there is little point to hunting if your prey already knows your location and objective.” Casually he approached it.

Kyle stared in wonderment, he sensed no hunger or satisfaction from Silvester, no interest or disinterest. He sensed nothing at all, for all his sense of Spirit detection knew Silvester wasn’t even there.

The founder stepped to the Hollow and grasped it with his left hand then suddenly threw it towards Kyle “Try again.” He said as the Hollow came to a stop ahead of Kyle.

Kyle stared down at the Hollow, his attention fully caught by the succulent soul that hovered ahead of him. He stepped back and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths he regained his composure (“What if…”) he thought and then opened his eyes to stare at the Hollow again.

This time Kyle’s eyes were cold and distant, his expression empty as he raised his hand towards the Hollow. Yet once again it rushed away, flying over the water at high speed and turning almost randomly seemingly in a panic.

Kyle unfroze his soul, feeling the hunger returning joined by annoyance. He turned to Silvester who watched with great interest.

“Ah yes.” Said Silvester as if just now noticing he was being looked at for further instruction “Your special ability to utterly halt emotion, which seems to also halt your inner Spirit. I’m afraid that won’t work here, as it only halts your hunger but does not remove it.” He waved his hand towards the Hollow “You’ll have to do this the correct way.”

Suddenly several hundred Hollows appeared all around them “But what is a hunt without a chase?” said Silvester as the many hundred lights of different colours covered him from Kyle’s view “Feel free to serve yourself, this is an all you can eat buffet! If you can capture them of course!” he then laughed as his voice grew distant, further and further until it disappeared.

Kyle was too busy glancing around at all the Hollows, his senses in utter disarray as he physically and mentally fought to keep control over himself. He spun around on the spot, swiping his claws at the Hollows and snarling at them like a beast. The Hollows spread out further, moving away from him yet not running away.

Suddenly for a brief moment he lost control, the beast inside pushed him over and Kyle pounced at the closest Hollow, a bright fluffy red orb. Sensing his aggression the Hollows scattered, in a rush of bright lights each orb flew away deep into the mist.

Kyle regained control mid-pounce but it was already too late, as he landed back onto the water it splashed and he descended down into it. He held his breath and swam back up, annoyed as he raised himself back to standing over the lake.

He glanced around looking for the Hollows but all he saw was mist and trees, they hadn’t just escaped but scattered further than he could see. Grimacing he looked down at his own hands, claws like a beast’s.

“How am I supposed to do this? You said so yourself! It’s amazing I can even restrain myself!” Kyle exclaimed at the mist, he waited but no response came back. His voice only echoed through the mist, bits and pieces of his words coming back to haunt him.

“Supposed to? Restrain myself!” the echoes moved as the wind howled all around him “How am I? Yourself!”

Kyle sighed in exasperation, after staring off into the mist for another moment he turned and walked off towards the shore. He expanded his senses, reaching out to locate the nearest Hollow. He found several nearby.

Wasting no more time he surged forward, rushing at a single direction until the green fluffy orb of light came into view. He stopped several feet away from it, staring at it he felt his stomach grumbling. His physical hunger added onto his spiritual one, each working on each other to further cloud Kyle’s mind.

Kyle felt his fangs aching, his claws expanding, his mouth opening letting out a hungry snarl. He was losing control, just a bystander resisting the urges, resisting the painful hunger that threatened to take over. He watched from blurry eyes as his right hand reached out towards the Hollow, still too far to grasp it.

Kyle felt physical pain as he fought his own body, trying to hold himself back from mindlessly pouncing onto the soul again. His mind ached, his vision blurred, his muscles convulsed with agony. His own body was turning against him, but he held it back. He became his own chains, he created his own shackles.

His mind became the cage which held his body in place, the bars that stopped his urges from going further. He pictured it and it became so, like a God his mind was his own and therefore anything he wanted to see it became.

Kyle felt himself regaining control, through the pain and the weakness of his body, he had separated himself from it and within his mind crafted a cage to hold it.

(“I am in control.”) he told himself (“This is my body, operated by my mind!”) he forced himself to believe.

Author: Perfect song to listen to as I wrote this scene o-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWN1_6wOiL4

(“No it is not.”) responded a voice in his head, a strange but familiar voice (“You’ve never been in control, how could you know what it even feels like to be? No this body will not bend to your control.”).

Kyle watched as his body took a step towards the Hollow, it took everything he had to stop it from taking another (“Who are you to tell me that!? This is my body! My life! Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own body!?”)

The voice cackled, a horrible combination of chilling laughter and crackling (“It has been a long time since this was YOUR BODY!”) the voice exclaimed as suddenly Kyle felt the restraint on his body falling apart, his mental chains shattered, the shackles broken.

Kyle felt himself losing control yet again, his body snarled and growled as it pounced at the Hollow, the orb rushing away from the maddened beast. He followed, on all fours he chased after the orb surging and trying to claw away at it but the ball of light was simply too fast.

Kyle leapt from tree to stone to ground, hungrily chasing after the Hollow (“No! I won’t let you!”) he continued trying to resist, his mind feeling like it was going to burst as he did. His body tripped due to the pain, tumbling over to a stop it grasped it’s own head and began to scream in agony as the two fought for control.

(“There is nothing to let! You have NO CONTROL! You never had any! Too weak to do anything! TOO FOOLISH TO PROTECT THOSE AROUND YOU! Too blind to look yourself in the mirror!”) the voice snarled back, it’s tone seething with hatred (“Why do you resist? WHY DO YOU HIDE?!”)

Kyle’s body whipped around, clawing, snarling and kicking at anything in sight. Lost to a complete frenzy.

(“I don’t…I’m not…”) Kyle had no idea as to what the voice was talking about, what was he hiding from?

(“Foolish, ignorant and blind. YOU DON’T EVEN SEE IT?! So afraid of the consequences. SO TERRIFIED OF WHAT YOU’LL BECOME.”) suddenly the voice changed, breaking up into two separate voices.

(“You’re a weak fool who cannot even protect himself from himself.”) said the chilling voice.

(“GIVE IN! WE CAN BE STRONGER! WE CAN BE BETTER!”) demanded the loud bestial voice.

Kyle screamed in agony as his mind threatened to explode, he felt his very soul being pulled apart from every direction possible and his body mirrored that sensation. He rolled and turned on the ground, grasping at himself as every part of his being fought against each other.

Kyle fought for control, he felt others doing the same.

(“You are your own weakness!”) exclaimed the cold voice.

(“YOU WILL BE OUR OWN DEMISE!”) exclaimed the loud monstrous voice.

Kyle felt himself being torn apart from the inside out, he didn’t even feel his claws tearing away his skin as he hugged himself in pain. As agony tore his mind asunder he wondered, where had he gone wrong?

Suddenly a voice echoed out with the howling winds “Our mistake…was to try and change at all.”

As Kyle spun and turned on the ground, grasping at the dirt, the air and at himself, looking for any kind of outlet to end his agony that plagued his entire being. One part of his body did not share with the rest. As his body was warped in pain…his smile…looked entirely out of place.

Suddenly Kyle’s body went limp, all movement ended, he simply lay there with eyes closed yet the smile remained.

Kyle had let go, he stopped trying to cage the beast and instead let it free. He felt around his mind, sensing the agitation, the hunger, the anger and hatred. He now understood, he never was in control. Just as the voice had said, this wasn’t his body, it wasn’t his soul either.

For the first time Kyle felt calm, a serene sense that let his mind drift away. He sensed confusion, the voices did not expect him to give in so easily. They had wanted him to break, they had wanted him to shatter in an explosion of anger.

But Kyle now understood what he was being thought, why they hadn’t shown him how to cage the beast inside. Not because they couldn’t, not because they didn’t want to. He now understood why it was wrong to do so.

The beast Kyle was trying to cage, the monsters he was so afraid to let out. They were part of him, his anger, his hatred, his sadness and fear. Each a shard of his own being, each a part of him. He couldn’t control his body without them, he couldn’t heal without them.

Kyle’s smile widened and the shard’s confusion grew, he chuckled at it as he lay there on the ground “We’re all fools.” He said followed by another laugh “Fighting like children over a toy.”

He moved to stand and felt resistance “Do you want to lay here? Fine then.” He said and laid back down.

(“What…is this?”) asked the cold voice, still very much confused.

(“WHY DO YOU NOT CHALLENGE US?!”) asked the beast.

Kyle stared up at the vines and mist “Because…why should I hinder myself? You my hatred and anger, you my hunger and instincts. You’re right, this isn’t my body because I have no single soul anymore. I’m shattered, broken. This is our body. I’ve been selfish, hogging it all for myself.”

(“Even though we tried to devour you? You would simply give up control? This is a trick.”) said the cold voice.

(“WHY SHOULD WE TRUST YOU? YOU ARE OUR WEAKNESS!”) exclaimed the beast.

The two voices then merged back together into one (“Our soul is shattered, each piece having it’s own piece of mind and consciousness. Yet most of us try to stick together, there is me that accepts the beast and follows through on our hatred. Then there is you who denies the beast and fears the hatred for it seems to be a monster. Why would you stop denying the beast? How can you stop fearing the monster?”)

Kyle’s smile faltered “I can’t. I hate what I am, I always will. I’m afraid of what I can become, I also always will. As you said, why should I stop? I cannot stop, what I can do is…move on.”

(“Move…on?”)

Kyle closed his eyes “I cannot stop hating, I cannot stop fearing. But I will accept it. I will accept my hatred. I will accept my fear. Will you accept my denial? Will you accept my cowardice?”

(“Why should I?”)

Kyle raised his hands ahead of himself, opening his eyes to see the bestial claws that were his fingers “Because it is who I am, it is who you are. The hatred, the fear, the denial and…everything else. It is who we are. We cannot operate without each other, I understand that now.”

(“Who we are?...Who are we?...”)

Kyle felt a rush, a surge of energy within himself. He felt his mind clearing of the fog that plagued him for so long, as if the lost pieces of the puzzle that made up himself finally moved to fill their place.

He rose to stand, feeling in full control of his body, even more so than before. He felt the hunger within him but this time he did not ignore it, he sensed around for a Hollow and found several. He did not restrain himself, he let the beast take over.

Frostfire rushed to engulf his body, his two tails rising and falling in excitement, his ears straightening as he lowered himself to a crouch. Kyle’s eyes shone brightly within the forest’s darkness, he felt the cold and damp air around his skin. Opening his mouth slightly he tasted the air, revealing his fangs.

Suddenly he surged forwards, running at a full sprint before he leaped up to a tree’s side. He grasped at the bark with his claws, hands and feet working in tandem before he leapt off and higher. Like a hunter he prowled around the forest, climbing trees to get a better view, stalking around foliage to hide himself as he approached the white Hollow.

He eyed it hungrily, yet it wasn’t overwhelming as it was before. He didn’t restrain himself, he didn’t try to hold back. Kyle felt his body move forward, his instincts taking over as he quietly prowled towards the Hollow.

As he approached he felt something…a sensation that overwhelmed his hunger. The world around him blacked out, he didn’t sense it because he didn’t need to. Only one thing mattered, his prey. His mind emptied of everything else.

He stopped two feet away from the Hollow, staring down at it coldly, patiently. Kyle reached out as he took another step forward, slowly he reached out to the orb of light. As his left hand grasped the Hollow his right palm rose engulfed in Spirit to his right.

A shockwave of Spirit engulfed him sending the Hollow into a frenzy but he held it still, Kyle turned to face Silvester who had suddenly appeared to his right. Kyle had blocked his punch with his palm, but his entire arm ached from the strength it had to endure.

“Well done.” Said Silvester as he backed off with a grin “You’re almost ready.” He gestured at the Hollow “Please don’t let me halt your appetite.”

Kyle nodded and turned back to the Hollow, he moved to eat it when suddenly he sensed aggression. Kyle surged back as Silvester’s Spirit imbued kick shot through where he once stood. The Hollow now free of his grasp rushed away and into the mist.

Kyle turned to face Silvester as a low growl left his throat, Silvester stared back at him with an amused smirk while making a hissing sound.