Benjamin Vryce

Benjamin woke up in agony. Not from his wounds, squinting at himself through the pain Benjamin could tell that he was completely healed. No, this pain was different. A pain that he hadn’t felt since he had first arrived in this new place. Benjamin Vryce was starving.

It gnawed at his insides with as much intensity as that last dire squirrel had gnawed on his arm. He couldn’t handle the hunger, he bent double clutching his belly. Face driven deeper into the giant squirrel Silver had poisoned. As he gasped in air he smelled the beast, his hunger addled mind told him it wasn’t food.

Gagging at what his own thoughts had pointed too, he thrashed away from the dead beast. Only to come into contact with another. This beast was one he had ripped the throat from. As his face fell into the still wet blood he inhaled again, this one smelled wonderful.

The scent was irresistible, everything he needed lay right before him already exposed for the taking. He didn’t understand why he was hungry now; he shouldn’t need to worry about food anymore. Another sharp pain from his stomach made him gasp. All reason leaving his mind as he inhaled the scent of fresh blood again.

What happened next wasn’t pretty. The pain and hunger were overwhelming, in the end Benjamin gave in and satisfied that need. It wasn’t something he would ever look back on proudly however. Even now he did his best to wipe the incident from his memory.

Once the pain had subsided and he was able to get a hold of himself once more, Benjamin cleaned himself as best he could before taking stock of his situation. The damaged armor had been cut away and lay in a heap where he had passed out. That confused him for a time before he saw Silver nestled down on the pile.

“Did you cut the armor off me little guy?” he asked, not really expecting an answer. He was doubly shocked then when he felt the spider drone’s affirmation in his mind, like a mental head nod to his question. Before he could ponder on it further there was a throb of pain from his core.

He would have fallen had he not already been on his knees. As it was, he found himself curling into the fetal position. Closing his eyes Benjamin tried to focus in on the source of the pain, the knot that he had drawn power from.

It was where it had always been since he first noticed it. There was something wrong with it though. It looked smaller and tighter than it had before. When Benjamin looked at it before it looked a bit like a complicated Celtic knot. Now it looked similar but like someone had pulled on each end, cinching it down tight. The power or energy that had flowed through that knot was now trapped and unable to flow.

The power was pooling behind the knot and would occasionally push at the bound passage. Each time this happened there was a throb of pain throughout his entire being. It seemed like when he had pulled on the knot to gain access to that power, he had inadvertently cut the supply.

Another throb of pain left him gasping. He franticly tore into the knot with mental fingers trying desperately to loosen the bind. He dug at it, pulling and twisting. He felt a lot like he had when he was five and got his shoe laces double knotted. He had panicked then as well, feeling claustrophobic and needed desperately to get his shoes off. Only this time it actually hurt.

Long moments of fruitless struggle later he became aware of a presence in his mind. It was small at first just a nudge, but as he ignored it the nudging became more insistent, forcing him to take notice. When he finally stopped his frantic digging at the knot and looked, he felt Silver there with him in his mind.

The little spider, having got his attention moved passed him and dug its eight limbs into the knot, working at it with more nimble grace then Benjamin could ever hope to achieve in his current mental state. Long moments passed, the presence of Silver growing fainter with each second.

Finally, the knot gave ever so slightly. The barest trickle of power wormed its way through the knot just as silvers mental presence faded from his mind. It left with a feeling of exhausted pride as it vanished.

The pain Benjamin had been feeling eased a little. Giving him time to examine his inner self more closely. His entire body was now full of small channels. He didn’t remember seeing these the last time he looked, perhaps he created them when he forced the transformation? The power that was leaking through the knot worked its way through them to slowly permeate his body.

He hadn’t seen them before his transformation, only the knot and the reservoir of energy that was trapped beyond. He pondered that for a long time. It was a puzzle he didn’t have all the pieces for but he put the ones he had together as he saw them now.

There was a reservoir, or pool, of power inside his core. When he had soul bound the Repair drone that pool of power had grown. Each time he killed an enemy here the pool grew. The Erlking said he had been limited on earth, there was a seal inside him, keeping the power contained.

He mulled that over for a time. He had been able to squeeze some power out to transform his body and heal his wounds but had somehow sealed off the power completely in doing so. It was flowing again now thanks to Silver, but only a trickle.

He opened his eyes and looked at Silver. Who hadn’t moved from the pile of broken armor, and spoke his thoughts aloud.

“Best guess I’ve got little buddy, is that the knot I am seeing is some sort of seal to keep my soul contained. When I was human that didn’t matter because I didn’t have any power anyway. Now that I forced my body to transform, however accidentally it was, I need the soul power to function. When I blocked off the power trying to heal myself, I starved my body and needed…nourishment.” He stopped there trying to hold himself back from gagging on the memory of how he had gotten said nourishment.

Once he got himself back under control he started musing aloud again.

“Unless I am wildly off the mark, I need to undo this seal. Unfortunately thanks to my carelessness it’s bound more tightly than ever. Anything else you can do about that little guy?” he asked Silver with a grin, waiting to hear some kind of mental response from the silver spider.

No response came. Benjamin frowned and reached out to pick the spider up in his hands. It sat limply on his palm, unresponsive. With a new sense of panic, he closed his eyes and reached out to the newly formed link that he shared with the small soul bound spider.

He groped for it franticly for several long seconds before finding it. He was somewhat relieved when he found the thread connecting them, but it was very thin. Careful not to damage the thread he reached across it with his mind, feeling for the spider.

What he got was a bone deep weariness from the spider. It didn’t seem like it was in pain or damaged, only like it exhausted itself and needed to rest. With a feeling of relief Benjamin gently tucked the fragment of himself into his pocket.

He was happy that Silver was unhurt, but that left him with no idea on how to undo the seal on his soul. He thought on it for a while longer before giving up. He would either have to wait until Silver woke up or hope something else came to him, until then he would have to use what he had on hand and avoid using his power.

Mind set Benjamin stood up. He looked at the pile of broken armor and the mound of dead dire squirrels. He still had the belt knife but that was about it. His tasset and greaves were the only armor that wasn’t destroyed.

He thought about going back to reequip for a second before dismissing the notion, he would continue on. If the power of his body wasn’t enough to see him through this trial, he would end up back at the platform soon enough and could reequip himself then. Decision made; Benjamin set out once more.

* * *

Jade Benz

Jade was bored. She had been stuck in the white prison for who knows how long, with just Tik and Tok for company. She liked the ogres, but they weren’t much for conversation. She had taught them how to play rock paper scissors to pass the time, but they always threw rock.

She had tried exploring, however far she walked she always ended up back at that damn calming chair. Eventually she gave up and sat down. The chair forced her mind to relax and made focusing easier. As she had nothing better to do, she let her mind wander as it would.

During these mental forays she stumbled on a brightly glowing container that was full to overflowing with some kind of energy. It was sealed in place by a wickedly complicated looking knot.

Puzzles not being her thing, her mind wondered off again. The chair suppressed her normally roiling emotions, letting her think clearly for the first time in ages. She thought about her life on earth, some of the things she had done close to the end. Had that really been her? She had been angry that her dad’s work schedule kept him busy after her mom died, but how had she gotten so out of control.

She stood up, not wanting to think about her past anymore. Without the chair’s calming effects, her emotions hit her like a ton of bricks. She went reeling out of control. Mind finally settling again on the puzzle just to distract herself from her own pain.

Thinking about the puzzle got her to thinking about her latest ex-boyfriend Dave. He had been a real asshole. He was also always fiddling with 3D puzzles like that. He had laughed at her the only time she tried to solve one of them, some kind of key ring where the rings would come apart or something. She hadn’t gotten it.

Thinking about Dave pissed her off again, who the hell was he to tell her she was too dumb and drug addicted to solve a damn puzzle.

“Fuck you asshole, just watch me.” She said, to accompanying growls from Tik and Tok. The ogres stood up from the ground, ready to rip apart whatever had angered their mistress. Waving them away she settled into the calming chair again. She refused to think about her past, instead focusing her whole being on the puzzle in her mind. She would show Dave, and everyone else who said she was stupid. Anything so that she didn’t have to focus on her own faults. Not like there was shit else to do here anyway.