Chapter 83: Cubed and Diced

Trint’s party looked up at the cube as it audibly pulsed with power, felt like a deep bass rumbling through their entire bodies. It began to rapidly spin and then with a sudden and violent stop, the cube froze its rotation. With the force of the spin suddenly stopped, the power flung out from the cube, like a splatter painting. The splash of green funneled down as it formed a glowing vortex from the cube down to the waiting party. The pressure increased and forced a cry of pain from a few of them as they were pressed down to the ground.

Trint watched as all sound and air were pulled from the area around them. They waited for the process, pain, and transport to end. The only thing that changed outside the vortex was happening across the room.

A new group of people appeared behind Cantor. Two of them abruptly grabbed and tossed him to the ground. Then he was thrown into restraints and pulled to his knees.

While he was subdued, an elegantly dressed woman walked out from behind another three guards and toward the controls Cantor had been nearby. It was clear to Trint that she was asking something of Cantor, but his face was defiant. None of the sounds passed into or out of the powerful funnel.

I don’t know what they said but I think they are going to try to shut this thing down, Trint shared his worry with his partner.

Send one of your Soul creatures to distract them.

Trint understood and agreed. He chose one of the Pneuma forms and sent it through the green winds. It passed through without an issue and covered the distance in just a moment. When it got in range it leaped toward the female leader. She drew a Soul-empowered sword from her storage and clashed with Trint’s creature.

Sword edge and claw clashed. There was a moment of resistance. Trint felt a sharp pain in his Soul as the creature lost its claw-tipped fingers and a fire started to burn up the wrist of his beast where it had been cut through. In the hesitation following the damage and spread of flames, his creature lost a leg and toppled over.

It fell on its side and twisted its neck to look up at the enemy. It never gave up as it started to swipe toward her legs with its one uninjured arm. For a moment the woman seemed distracted, and Trint’s hope rose. Then he unwillingly witnessed the beheading of his creature. Trint closed his eyes in shock and pain. There was a part of him that just felt ripped from him. His Soul suffered a new level of trauma as he gasped for air. But there was nothing in the vortex to ease his pain.

The next moment Trint’s surroundings changed with a sudden and jarring slam he was tossed to the ground from several feet in the air. Still feeling the pain of loss and Soul damage he was still trying to catch his breath. Part of him knew he was in the System again and the density of Mana, Spirit, and Soul was palpable here. Arriving like a meteor, moments from impact, wasn’t fun.

I guess that’s better than arriving deep underground,” the Spirit companion laughed. He was unaware of the extent of Trint’s recent ordeal.

The pain was rapidly receding to a corner of his mind and Soul. He looked around and took in his surroundings. He knew Pneuma was at his side and taking in their sudden arrival to i3.

I’m already feeling better but just for future reference; Soul creations can die, and it hurts like hell when they do, Trint confirmed as he stood up to look around. After a quick assessment of the immediate surroundings, he noted nothing seemed like a threat. He didn’t have access to a map of the area, but they were currently safe.

The landscape was visible from many miles. They were at a high elevation on the side of a small mountain. It was surrounded by other mountains and spreading their senses they knew the creatures nearby were lower level than them but likely wouldn’t be excited to see them.

The i3 Iteration had people and creatures from levels 1001 to 2500. Those they could sense were only in the mid-1500s. After the battle with the Soul Masters, Trint had gone from Level 2118 to 2192. 74 levels felt like a lot, but Trint did get XP from all his creatures, and he got all Pneuma’s since the System still considered them one person. He wondered if that would always be true.

Since going to the Subsystem, Pneuma had been able to form his own separate body. They had both progressed and formed their own separate Souls. They were in the same Soul Space but were distinctly separate halves of a whole. He might never fully understand but he had other things to consider now.

I need a moment before we move out, Trint requested.

He took a quick look at his System notifications. He had to sort through them with a sorting feature. There were so many he arranged them in order of importance.

How are you feeling? Pneuma’s concern was plain to hear.

Like a small part of my Soul was ripped out, he smeared a few previously unnoticed tears as he wiped his face free of dirt. Whether they fell from pain or an emotional sense of loss he didn’t take time to determine. He simply pushed the details from his mind as he cleaned his face with a rag.

I don’t know if things will operate differently here, Pneuma silently said while scanning the area.

Like how?

Why don’t you check out your Soul Space while I watch here? Track the time and stay there for 10 minutes. Then come back. I’ll measure the time out here.

He jumped into his Soul. The pain hit him abruptly. His Soul was not the tranquil place it had been. He was more susceptible to damage than he thought during the Cease battle. Was it me or was that Soul sword just far beyond what I can do?

Trint watched the time but slowly worked his way toward Pneuma’s underground Soul. It was like his body here was injured. But the pain was also like a beacon calling to him. He followed the pain to where Pneuma had kept the creature. There was an outline of the lost creature in Pneuma’s half of their Soul space. Trint felt like a small amount of his Soul was escaping through the ghost-like outline. As if it is leaking out.

He spent the remaining minutes of the countdown trying to stop the leak. Nothing he could think of helped and the 10 minutes quickly passed.

“Well, what did you find?” His friend asked out loud, knowing Trint’s focus was back on his physical body.

“I think I’ll be fine. There is an issue though. How much time passed out here?”

“I counted 10 seconds,” his dark companion said sinking to sit next to his friend.

“That is a huge change. I was there for the whole 10 minutes. But I might have an idea other than just being back in the system as to what is causing the dilation to change.

“What?”

“My Soul is leaking from where the creature died in my Soul but it’s on your side where it previously stayed. The main change is probably being in the System rather than the Subsystem, but the hole could also be a factor.”

“You say it’s on my side of the Soul space, but I don’t feel any pain.”

“You take a turn and try to fix it,” Trint said trying to sound hopeful.

They alternated looking and experimenting with the damaged section. They didn’t make any progress and resigned to hoping that time would heal it or that they would find answers soon. Trint was having no additional negative reactions other than the ache in his Soul and his body within his Soul space feeling like it was hit by a truck. His physical body felt good so without making more excuses, they decided to move on.

The Instances in the area were like shining beacons to their Soul sense. Trint felt reluctant to resummon his Soul Creatures. But after some exploring of the mountain area, he knew he would be wasting their potential and decreasing his overall power if he never used them. Delaying it was only going to make things worse.

He summoned Baba Jaga and Koshchei. “We are going to try some of the i3 instances in the area and you can either join us or go off on your own. I want you to have some freedom but if you choose to explore on your own, I want you to return to me in one day,”

“Yes, Daddy,” Baba Jaga and Koshchei laughed as they sarcastically said in sing-song unison. But it was a chilling thing to hear as the shapeless forms of pure black moved about. Their dark edges blurred together and passed through each other.

“We will take the one day and go as far as we can,” the shadowy specter whispered in her creepy response.

“Which way do you plan to travel?” Koshchei inquired.

Trint pointed down the mountain toward a setting sun. “We will go that way,” he said as he pulled up his System map and confirmed the direction was the same as his intuition suggested. “That is northwest. If you can avoid it, don’t kill sentient beings. You can defend yourselves though. So don’t hesitate too much.” Trint felt a pang of guilt from sending out and losing one of his creations less than an hour before. “I don’t want to lose either of you. Despite you being scarier than him,” He pointed again at Pneuma.

“You will grow familiar with us soon,” Koshchei hinted. “We will reveal what you don’t know about our nature when you are ready. But you may never be prepared for our true forms. We will see you tomorrow.”

After the other two left at high speed towards the West, Trint finally shared his thoughts. Wow, those two give me chills whenever I look directly at them and twice as much when they talk.

Yeah, Pneuma groaned, I hate to admit it but with us being so tied together, they creep me out too. I blame you. I would never be afraid if we weren’t connected. But on a serious note, are you aware they originate from the depths of your psyche? I think they are expressions of the darkness inside of you.”

“I’m not dark inside,” Trint defended aloud.

“We all have darkness, evil even, inside us,” Pneuma challenged, “Even with all your hero complex, trying to save your family while battling through the Iterations. You are a good person by most standards. Not always the brightest. But an idiot carries around demons. And you have some deep-seated fears that are haunting you whether you acknowledge them or not.

“That felt like a low blow,” Trint grinned, not truly bothered, “I thought you’d forgotten all the dumb stuff I did when we met.”

“Never going to truly let you forget. And for now, you need to know that those manifestations of darkness aren’t a bad thing. Knowing yourself, especially the dark parts will be important.”

“They seem to be aware of their nature,” Trint considered.

“Yes, but thinking through what your fears and weaknesses are before they explain anything would be a beneficial exercise. Or they might just kill you during some random nap,” Pneuma said under his breath.

“What?” Trint punched his friend’s shoulder, hearing that joke.

“When we enter the first instance, I think we should clear it and then meditate while we focus our Souls and our plans for i3.”

“Good enough plan for me,” Trint followed as Pneuma walked toward the west and to the closest Instance. It turned out to be a level 1850 Instance. They likely wouldn’t level up from the kills, but they still wanted to rest and spend time in their Souls. With their short-term plans set, they stepped through the doorway to the Instance.