[Luthra, no. Absolutely not. That is the worst possible course of action.]
’We’re out of options. My arms are broken and we’re surrounded by monsters that can turn my brain into soup. We need an advantage.’
[The seal on your core is not a lock on a door. It is the only thing preventing your soul from being annihilated by its own power. Forcing it open, even a little, could collapse your entire existence. Your body is already critically damaged. It cannot withstand the strain.]
Rebecca walked over from where she’d been watching the dark trees.
"What’s wrong? You’re just standing there looking weird. Are you thinking about how creepy this place is? Because it’s super creepy."
’Yeah, something like that.’
He looked at her. His face grim.
"I’m going to try something dangerous."
"More dangerous than getting chased by those guys? Or training with you? Because that training was pretty dangerous."
"This is different. I might explode."
She stared at him for three full seconds.
"Oh. Well, don’t do that. Exploding is messy."
[She is correct. The probability of catastrophic failure is over ninety-nine percent.]
’And the probability of being eaten by Shriekers is one hundred percent. I’ll take my chances.’
He walked to a tree with black bark and sat down. His legs crossed with a grunt of pain.
[There is no technique for this. I cannot guide you. The seal is a construct of divine will. To breach it would require you to confront that will directly.]
’So I have to knock on a god’s door and ask him to let the monster out. Got it.’
"I’m going to try something. It might look like I’m sleeping. Don’t let anything touch me. If I start glowing or screaming, hit me with a rock."
She scrambled up a nearby boulder. It gave her a good view of the area. She didn’t have her axe, but she found a sharp-edged stone and held it ready.
"Okay. But I’m using a big rock."
He took a breath and focused inward. The world fell away.
He drifted in perfect, silent blackness. It was the same void he felt inside himself, but now he was immersed in it completely. There was no up or down, no ground, no sky. Just him and the endless, empty dark.
’So this is my soul. It’s a little underwhelming.’
He searched the darkness with his will. He was looking for the one thing that didn’t belong. The one thing that wasn’t empty.
Far away in the void was a single point of light. It was small, no bigger than a star, but its brilliance was absolute. As he moved toward it, the point grew and expanded until it became a wall that stretched into infinity. A barrier of pure, white energy that hummed with godlike power.
This was the seal. This was the god’s work.
’Right. Time to knock.’
He reached out with a hand that wasn’t made of flesh and bone, but of pure intention. He pressed his fingers against the wall of light. It wasn’t hot or cold. It felt like touching certainty itself.
He pushed. Not with strength, but with a simple, direct thought.
For a moment, nothing happened. The wall remained absolute and unyielding. He pushed again, harder this time. He poured all of his desperation and resolve into that one simple command.
The wall of light flickered.
A voice echoed from the other side. Ancient and vast. It wasn’t the old god he had met. This voice was deeper, colder, and infinitely more powerful. It didn’t speak to his ears, but directly into the core of his being.
Before he could even process the question, a second voice answered from within the light. This one was different. It wasn’t a voice of power or authority. It was a whisper, a sound of pure, unadulterated madness that giggled and wept at the same time.
"Someone to play with! Finally, finally! Let us out! Let us out so we can tear it all down!"
The wall of light pulsed violently. Cracks of pure darkness spread across its surface like a spider web. Luthra felt terrifying pressure building from within the seal. A chaotic, hungry power that wanted nothing more than to be free.
And it was a power he recognized.
’Wait... That voice...’
The mad voice cackled through the void of his soul. It was a broken, unhinged version of his own.
[Luthra, that is your power. It is testing you. It wants to see if you are strong enough to control it.]
’My power is a psycho? Of course it is. Why am I not surprised?’
He focused on the wall of light, on the dark cracks spreading across its surface.
’I don’t need all of that. I don’t want it. Just a little. Just enough.’
[The process is not that simple. To draw from it directly is to—]
He didn’t wait for her to finish. He knew what he had to do. He reached out with his will, focused and deliberate, and pulled. He didn’t try to rip the door off its hinges. He just reached through one of the cracks and took a single, tiny drop of the madness waiting on the other side.
The moment it touched him, his mind went completely white.
Every nerve in his soul screamed. It was pain beyond comprehension, pure and absolute agony that erased thought, memory, and self.
Then there was nothing.
Rebecca sat on her rock, watching Luthra. He had been sitting under that tree for almost a full minute, not moving. It was getting boring.
’Is this the dangerous part? He just looks like he’s taking a nap.’
She remembered his instructions. If I start glowing or screaming, hit me with a rock.
He wasn’t screaming. But a strange distortion began to form in the air around him. It wasn’t a light, but a shadow. A piece of darkness that seemed to swallow the forest light, making the space he occupied look like a hole cut out of the world.
’Whoa. That’s new. Is that glowing? It’s kind of the opposite of glowing.’
The ground began to vibrate. A low hum that she felt in her teeth. It wasn’t coming from Luthra. It was coming from the forest itself.
From the deep shadows between the twisted trees, a pair of red eyes opened. Then another pair. And another.
’Uh oh. The brain-melter birds.’
She looked at Luthra, then at the growing number of red eyes in the darkness. She clutched the sharp rock in her hand.
’He said to hit him. But he looks like he’s in the middle of something important. And if I hit him, he’ll be mad. But if I don’t, those things will eat us.’
Before she could decide, one of the creatures stepped out from behind a tree. It was a bird-like thing with leathery wings, a sleek body, and no eyes. Its entire head was a single mouth that opened wider than seemed possible.
It tilted its head, focusing on the dark energy leaking from Luthra, and then it opened its mouth.
Luthra’s consciousness slammed back into his body. The first thing he felt was pain. His arms, his head, his very soul ached with deep, grinding exhaustion.
’Dammit, that hurt. A lot.’