Chapter 65: Free at Last

“How is your breathing?” Ay’Lin asked

“Fine. Why do you ask?” Trint replied.

“Either you are extremely gifted, or you are not affected by the Soul pressure in here,” she said. “I will leave you from here, you may continue but at your own risk. Understood?”

“What risk are you referring to?” Trint wondered.

“If the pressure of this place suddenly presses down on you, you will not make it back. It is said that this place is what remains of a dead god. That the crystals grow along the spine of its decomposed body. The further toward violet you go the more concentrated and deadly the pressure. Eventually, you either reach beyond your limit and the power radiates your being, destroying your soul or you find harmony and resonance will aid in your search.”

“So far I have felt nothing, I wish to continue,” Trint nodded.

“Good luck, and don’t die. I don’t want your course rotting away down there,” Ay’Lin waved him through.

Walking slowly Trint saw there were no maintained resting places to sit on like before. He had noticed the number of meditation alcoves had rapidly decreased as he went deeper. There were a couple of signs of someone long ago coming this way but shortly after entering the violet section the premade stepping path ended and he was now on the stone of the cavern. From there he was forced to find his path through the crystals that naturally grew along the untrod path.

During the first twenty minutes of his now much slower progression into the violet crystal section of caves, he was startled by a bright flash of violet light from his right. He quickly turned at the sudden burst of light, but nothing was out of place the crystals along the cave floor and walls still lightly illuminated the passage. Another flash pulsed but this time it was to his right back the way he’d come but also below his eye line. As the flash dimmed, he was able to trace the pulse of light to a pocket on the right side of his clothes. The same pocket containing Phinry’s rock.

Upon touching the rock in his pocket Trint was startled again. Phinry materialized before him. Standing with his glasses and his apron covering his robes, he took a quick look around.

“Ah, yes, I’m glad that was able to get your attention. I could sense a connection to your surroundings. It is good you are in the Soul Caves of Cease. This was the secret of our premiere citizens and ruling class. It should help you greatly, I hope. I needed your attention because there is a high probability that I will not be able to communicate with you after you traverse beyond the violet path. I suspect you will need to venture further. We have no records of any who were able to venture even far enough to glimpse what was beyond, but I hypothesize that you will be the first to see. I don’t wish to risk shattering the gem I am housed in, so I need to ask you not to summon me till after you return.”

“Please if you will be patient, I will give you a bit of what you can expect. First, the knowledge I gave you will become readily available to you when you find resonance here,”

“I already understand a lot of what you gave me,” Trint cut in, thinking to save Phinry time explaining that.

“No, no, you might have a bit of knowledge, but it is like you know the summary. Once you find resonance that knowledge will download into the vestiges of your soul. That will help you ground your soul along the path to anchoring it. They are not the same thing, but they will get you started. Next, you need to know that the connections I mentioned were not simple. There is someone tethered to you or something. It goes far beyond an heir and benefactor relationship. It also goes beyond the Class of Sovereign you have. It is as if the System itself is monitoring you with a tether."

"Even here in the Subsystem, I believe you are tied to the System in unspeakable ways. I told you I didn’t want to hinder your potential, but I thought you need to know that. But that connection is not the one that scares me. There are two others, and, in some way, I don’t understand they are more significant than the System connection. One is an order of magnitude beyond that and the other dwarfs that. I don’t think you having knowledge they exist will hamper you. Just know that there seems to be a force at play that wants to know and potentially control your Soul."

"Our people can sever System connections. That is how we can limit your Spirit and separate your Bond. I was one of the architects of that System manipulation. Therefore, I am also able to see that the Cease people no longer have the mastery of it that I do. Whether they lost it, or your captors are not at my level doesn’t matter. As the Violet-level architect, I am removing your limitations. I do ask you not to harm my people, but they will no longer have sway over your Spirit and System access for your stats. They still are Soul Masters based on the group you have been near since my arrival. So, I would caution you from confronting them until you at least choose an anchor.”

“Thank you,” Trint sighed. He was relieved as a subconscious burden slid off him when Phinry removed the bind on his Spirit. “Can I connect with Pneuma again?”

“Yes, I suppose you can,” Phinry confirmed. “But there is a chance that he won’t find his anchor. I believe he has a separate potential from yours. You are connected but still separate. I don’t have the necessary words to explain. You run a risk either way. Join and possibly gain strength from one another and achieve more for both of you. But possibly at the expense of Pneuma’s potential. I just don’t have enough data to base this on. I am only presenting you with caution and my best-educated guesses.”

“I have only gotten this far with Pneuma. I don’t want to risk this without at least getting his thoughts.”

Pneuma, can you hear me?

Yes, Trint, I also feel our connection is unhindered. How did you do that? Can we maintain it?

Yes, it’s about that violet stone I showed you a glimpse of. There is a lot to explain but in short, we won’t be separated again. But I need to know if you want to rejoin and seek a soul anchor together or if you want to attempt one separately. Either way, if you decide I will honor your choice.

There is no question, I will join you, one moment.

After a couple of minutes, Trint felt his Spirit swell like he took a deep breath of fresh air after nearly suffocating.

Pneuma! You’re back.

That is much better. We are not meant to be separated from our connection. I see we appear to be nearing the end of the violet cave section. What do you want to do next? And who is that?

“Oh, yes! Phinry, meet my bond Pneuma, Pneuma this is Phinry the creator of the test I broke.” Trint introduced

“Hello, Spirit King, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Phinry politely bowed.

“Yes, it is my pleasure,” Pneuma projected in an audible voice. “I assume you are responsible for lifting the force separating Trint and me?”

“Ah, you are welcome, that was my doing,” Phinry smiled at Trint since Pneuma was not projecting outside of Trint.

“Why do you call me Spirit King?” Pneuma inquired.

“You appear to have the qualities of peak Spirit with a massive Reign, Kingdom, and Court. I can’t tell whether it is you that makes Trint have similar strength or his Sovereign Class. Your combined power is an order of magnitude greater than what I’ve seen. I don’t know if Spirit King is an actual title, but I was showing you respect for your status. Now I can see you also have potential that might prove similar in Soul. I would encourage you to seek a separate Anchor from Trint. Your potential alone will be incredible to behold. I cannot predict your combined result.”

“Hmm,” Pneuma and Trint both hummed their consideration as Phinry paused.

“Let’s venture deeper,” Trint proposed, “And we can decide when or if we find a resonance. Pneuma, I still leave your decision in your hands. I don’t wish to influence your choice. I owe you too much.”

Thank you, but I lean towards our combined effort. I am tempted by Phinry’s thoughts of my potential. But we are one and the same. I only even consider so that we might be stronger together. We won’t know what is best until it is likely too late to change our path.

“Phinry, feel free to provide your advice,” Trint offered. “We have decided to seek resonance deeper along the cave.”

“Excellent,” Phinry’s excitement was clear. “I am very eager to see what happens. But I again ask you to not summon me. I fear this memory stone will not withstand anything beyond violet. Only after you return to this level would I want you to summon me again. I will do my best to remain inert within the stone till you summon me when we return. Apologies, I thought that I made that clear.”

“Understood, yes I suppose you did explain,” Trint confirmed. “We will resummon you when we get back to this spot.” Trint checked and his access to his ring was restored. He pulled out a blanket and left it on the path. When they got back to this point, they were checking in with Phinry.

Trint and Pneuma having made their decision and gathered what information they could, proceeded on silently observing with every sense they had. Hoping to find this mysterious resonance.

They crossed the blended border of violet and now black crystals and still there was no sign of resonance. They had walked another twenty minutes or about a half mile. There were several opportunities to branch off to the right and left and they had chosen to take the wide center path, leaving markers to avoid getting lost on their return from the cave system.

In the stillness of the cave, Trint and Pneuma finally felt a change. Their Spirit senses although returned had hit a wall ahead of them. Beyond their physical ability to see and around a few bends their Spirit senses hit a wall. But it felt different than an actual dead end. Their sense just diffused like it hit a fog that sucked up any further view.

They agreed to proceed. Arriving at the spot they saw that the black crystals ended. Although black they had all projected enough light to see by. But they abruptly ended at the line their senses ended. The path continued though not as a rough stone tunnel but as a perfectly square tunnel.

This is not naturally formed. Pneuma mentally told Trint, almost afraid to speak into the silence.There is nothing so exact in natural phenomena. This was made by someone or something.

I agree but I don’t know whether that is a good thing or not. Let’s keep going. We can’t stop now.

They continued passing several turnoffs to other passages. But each was shaped differently. They came to a junction room. There was nothing in it but standing just inside the chamber they saw that their square passage exited there were four other paths leading away from the chamber and one hole in the center. Each corridor was shaped differently but in exact geometric shapes. They came from a square passage, on their right was a triangular tunnel, then to Trint’s left was a pentagon going straight across from them was a circle tunnel. But none of the passages to the sides interested Trint as he finally felt a pull to the hole in the chamber floor. He knew before he saw it that it was a hexagon.