Buttopia
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Chapter 104: Soul Plane
🕑 Added 2025-02-07 01:20:43 +0000 UTC“Glorp, start looting everything, Elody, please help him identify and sort it all as quickly as possible. I’m assuming the experience window means we’ve handled this city for now, so unless Dave wants us to stick around, I want us all back on the bus as soon as possible,” Elicec said, giving out the commands with ever-increasing ease. He seemed born to lead. Had his parents realized? Was that part of why his home worked so hard to get him and Cecile to the Arena?
“So what’s next,” Cecile asked as I approached. Beyond what Elicec said, I wasn’t sure. We needed to make sure everyone was looted, not because I cared overly much about the government getting any of the spoils, but because I had some strong potential uses for the orbs. I also needed supplies for some upcoming experiments, and who knew what some of the orcs were carrying.
“We do what Elicec said and get ba…” I started to say before a searing light flashed in my mind, arcing across my vision, before exploding into a burst of pain as I crashed to the ground, unable to stand or even remember where my feet were. I fought as hard as I could stay conscious, babbling something in response to the worried shouts, but I had no idea what words came out or even what was said to me. I felt teeth gnawing deeply into me as my vision went dark.
Within the blackness and searing pain, a chat window appeared, dominating the emptiness as it grew.
>Corey: Dave, can you read this?
>Dave: Corey? What’s going on?
>Corey: I’m not entirely sure. I experienced an intense sensation of pain and then nothing until suddenly I could perceive our interlink again.
>Santa: Oh hey, you’re both back. Did it work? Could you remember?
>Dave: Yes, but that’s not important right now. It has to be the creatures that Elody connected to your warning. I’m not sure why else there would be the biting sensation.
>Santa: So you figured out what’s coming for your planet? That’s probably good. How do we stop it?
>Dave: That’s a whole new problem, I think. I’m pretty sure they are attacking me right now, but how do I ignite my soul from inside here?
“I’d start by ignoring the chat window and talking to me more personably,” the figure currently going by Santa said from somewhere behind me. The blackness receded slightly, now more of a room instead of a nothingness. My body seemed to exist again, and behind me was the man who had spoken.
“Is this my weird dreamscape again?” I asked, not entirely sure, as it was much more devoid of substance than usual. The memories of our past encounters flooded back into my brain as soon as I saw his message in the chat. How was I even locking those out? Why was my brain doing that?
“I’m not sure that’s what it actually is. But since your friend joined us, I’ve started to think about the nature of our connection. What if it’s a manifestation of a bond between all of our souls? Yours and mine were linked when you had your first out-of-body experience, and then you linked your friend with yourself, I assume,” Santa explained. It wasn’t the worst theory. I certainly didn’t have anything better. Though if I could actually remember this all when awake, it was possible Elody would have something far more concrete then this theory.
“With a lack of other theories, I’m willing to just accept it now, but how do I bring myself out of this? I have a potential way to get rid of the soulhunters, but I have no idea how to do it here. Hell, I didn’t really know how to do it out there,” I replied, trying to focus on everything I could remember from the book. Then again, if we were in a manifestation of our soul bonds, what would happen if I tried to channel pure soul energy here? Would it be easier?
“Is that what they are? The name reminds me of something. I believe I once read of their destructive nature. I can’t remember if I ever knew anything about how to stop them, though,” Santa replied, his jolly face showing lines of frustration.
“I’ve been told soulfire might be the way. Let’s say this really is what you think it is. How do I use that to ignite my soul?” I asked, frustrated. I doubted the man would be any help there. Dammit, I should have tried to do this before we left. This wasn’t supposed to have been this close to critical mass as a problem.
“Now that brings back memories. Interesting, I believe I’ve dealt a great deal with soulfire before. We may not need to totally ignite your soul if the goal is just to delay them. Can you feel your soul-core reaction right now? Feel it strong enough to grasp?” Santa asked, his voice suddenly full of a fervor I hadn’t heard from him before. Considering he had also been separated from his body, it made some sense it could have been in a soul-related experiment of his own. Who had he been before this?
“I think so?” I said as I reached for where my core would normally be. The switches were all missing, and my mana channels seemed nearly intangible in my grasp, but as I focused my will more, I was able to lock onto where the reaction should take place, forcing it into my perception.
“Focus on your soul itself. Try to push it through your core without letting your core interact with it,” he explained, his voice still full of enthusiasm, almost like he had come alive again.
“I’ll try,” I said, as another stab of pain shot through my being, reminding me I was working on a very harsh and unknown deadline. I focused again on where my soul-core reaction should be, this time placing my attention firmly on my soul. This had to have been similar to what I had done with the Jesters. With the confidence from that thought in mind, I started pushing the energy out of my soul as quickly as I could. Trying to overwhelm my core past what it could easily convert.
It hurt like hell, but the pain had nothing on the gnashing and rending feeling that had been constant since this started. I emptied my entire soul through my core in a matter of seconds. The mana channels I could barely touch flared to life as the energy seared its way through them. Down my legs and arms, through my eyes, even from my mouth, soul energy bled out of me in waves as it burned free of all my mana channels. A new scream escaped my lips as the pain worsened.
Then it stopped.
Instantly, the horrible feeling of being torn apart disappeared, and my eyes opened. My memories hadn’t faded this. I could clearly remember it all. What did that mean? The room I was in finally registered through the after-haze of pain. I was on my couch back in the cabin. How had we gotten back here so quickly? No, we couldn’t have. That couldn’t have just been a few minutes like it felt. How long had I been unconscious?
“He’s awake!” I heard Maud’s voice call as I started to sit up. There was still a tingling sensation going across my mana channels, but everything seemed okay now. Maybe?
“Dammit, Dave. What the hell happened to ya?” Mel said from the other side of the room. Had he been watching me?
“How long was I out?” I asked first, figuring it was best to wait for the others before explaining what had happened. Or what I thought had happened, at least.
“Nine days,” Mel answered, floating into view, somehow managing to combine a frown and a smile into one of the strangest looks I had ever seen on someone.
“Shit, what happened with the orcs,” I asked. Dammit, that was a lot of wasted time. Time we didn’t have.
“That problem was easy enough. The next few batches weren’t nearly as bad as the first. Took us two days ta finish them off and get ya back here. Elody has been treating ya nearly around the clock since,” Mel explained.
“Oh, thank god. What the hell happened to you Dad?” John asked from nearby.
“I assume the soulhunters attempted to consume your soul?” Elody said as she entered the room, answering before I could.
“Yeah, I think that’s what happened. I was able to partially ignite my soul in the weird space my mind was stuck in. I’m guessing that pushed them back for now,” I answered.
“I’m aware. It’s the only reason I took a break a few hours ago. We are going to need to finish that ignition as soon as possible. I drained nearly every mana reserve I had holding those creatures at bay,” she explained. I couldn’t argue with her. Having lost so many days meant we couldn’t risk any other loss. At least the orcs had been cleaned up, but I had also missed out on the team building. This was a giant mess.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I should have worked on this earlier. As soon as I get some food into me, I promise I will figure out how to ignite my soul,” I said, terrified of soulhunters getting a new grip on me.
Soulsmiths are a very desired class choice for a faction to have. The problem is that they require the person to master the channeling of their soul before they can begin their true craft, which makes it incredibly hard and costly to attract one. But when you consider what soul-reinforced armor is capable of handling, not to mention it is one of the few easy defenses against pure soul channeled magic, it’s plain to see why every faction wants one in their employ.
Classes Volume 2 by Zolinjar
