"I know I said it once, but I'll say it again, you two were incredible out there." The driver said enthusiastically.
"Thanks. I'm just glad that my first hunt went so well." Anna replied, while pretending the shadow wolf never existed.
"That was your first?! No kidding... You two looked like pros out there."
"I agree with his assessment. More importantly, was that rune magic I saw back there?" Ivir asked, while his calm expression was betrayed by his rising voice.
"Yep! I'm a runic spearman after all." Reid replied.
"How do you find the time to create runes mid battle? For me it's hard to get a chant off even when I'm protected. I couldn't imagine trying to draw those shapes while also running around and swinging a weapon."
"Oh, that's because I have help." Reid says while holding up his guild card. "I have two souls within me."
The boy shifts suddenly, his hair and eyes becoming a glowing white.
Amadeus looks around curiously before narrowing his glowing eyes.
"Yes, hello and goodbye." His tone was sharp and final. Before anyone could reply, they switched again.
"As you can see, that ball of sunshine is the other soul in my body. He handles the spells while I attack on the frontlines." Reid explained.
"Fascinating. You're saying he can create runes even while you're running around?"
"Yep."
"I must admit, I'm a bit jealous of him. A caster that can never be targeted, one that doesn't need to be protected, I can only dream of such a situation." Ivir admitted.
"I've never really thought about it that way." Reid put a hand to his chin while his mind ran through the implications of this advantage.
In small scale combat, the advantage their situation presents is undeniable. If two equally skilled mage and fighter teams were to fight, one with the combatants separate and one with the combatants combined like Reid and Amadeus, the combination team would win every time without fail. They just wouldn't have the same vulnerabilities as the separated team.
The small talk continued for a while longer before they began to turn in for the night. They kept the same watch schedule as the first night, except with Reid and Anna switching shifts so no one had to be stuck with the crappy middle shift two nights in a row.
Hours passed as the calm quiet of night took over. Reid was deep in sleep when Amadeus suddenly sensed something unusual. It wasn't a sound, or a smell, or any of the normal senses one would expect. It was something only he could feel, because it came through his soul sense.
It was hard to place into words what exactly this feeling was. In honesty, it was similar to the massive overbearing soul he felt from Kalkan but on a scale even greater than that.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Amadeus wakes the boy.
"Reid! Reid! Wake up!" He shouted through their connection.
"Yeah… what's up Amadeus?" He asks groggily.
"I sense something massive to the north of our camp. We should alert the others."
"Crap!" The boy shouts while hopping out of his sleeping bag.
"Hey! Hey!" He yells while shaking Anna aggressively.
But nothing works. No matter how much he shakes her or how loud he yells, she stays asleep. Panicking, he rushes out of the tent.
"Hey! Something's going on, and for some reason I can't wake up Anna!" He yells at the mage who is sitting on a stump at the edge of camp that overlooks the dark forest.
He hears only eerie silence.
"Hey, can you hear me!?" He shouts.
He starts shaking the mage from behind, but the man doesn't move. The boy moves to the front of the mage to find his eyes wide open, unblinking and unfocused.
"What the hell is going on!?"
"I don't know, but if I had to bet, it has something to do with that presence I feel off in the distance. If I can feel it with soul sense from all the way over here, then whatever it is, it must be powerful."
"I guess we need to go investigate." He declares with uncertainty in his voice.
"I agree, but we need to be careful. Let's try to stay hidden until we know what we're dealing with."
Reid grabs his spear and pouch and takes off into the dark forest.
It only took the boy a few minutes to navigate through the night forest, his enhanced vision making it easy to find his way. Walking past one last bush they found themselves in an open valley clearing. In the clearing was a single figure standing in front of a large purple streak. To Amadeus it looked like a tear in space itself, but he had no time to process that information.
Without warning, the two souls switch places.
"Reid?!" He calls out for the boy.
But Reid was not the one who answered.
"Hello there." A mysterious female voice calls out.
In the blink of an eye Amadeus was in the center of the clearing, face to face with the figure at the clearing's center. The transition was so fast he had to assume he was forcibly teleported to this new location.
"It's a pleasure to meet you otherworlder! How are you enjoying our realm?" Her calm voice seemed to relax Amadeus' very soul.
The figure in front of him was incredibly tall with well-balanced proportions. Her skin was fair, with voluminous golden hair. Her silky features and curvaceous body could inspire painters for generations and never once become stale. She had a disarming smile that paired well with a pair of golden eyes that radiated with an intensity that could warm even the coldest soul.
Given everything he had seen, felt, and heard her say, Amadeus had a decent guess at this figure's identity.
"I am enjoying it quite a bit. Mana and spirit energies are interesting phenomena to study. Forgive me for being presumptuous, but might you be the great god of creation, Vala?" He asks.
"Oh my, you figured out who I am already? That's no fun. I was hoping to slowly hint at it as the conversation went on." She faked a pout before continuing.
"It is as you say, I am Vala, might I ask for your name?" She says politely.
"Amadeus Caeser, it's a pleasure." He responds with a small bow.
"A Pleasure is it? Are you certain? I heard from one of my sons you have quite the disdain for us gods." She said with a lighthearted smile.
"It may seem that way given my history, but those were extenuating circumstances. The disdain for the god of my world is due to my personal grudge against him. As for what happened with Kalkan, well, that was just a matter of… incompatible personalities."
The goddess giggles.
"Yes, I know how he can be. Honestly, I am more curious to find out what caused this feud between you and Dahlacia. I haven't seen him directly intervene in mortal affairs once in the entire history of his realm." She asked.
"He came to me one day. He declared that he was the god of my realm and asked that I stop my research. I refused, and things naturally escalated. We fought for some time but I was completely defeated." Amadeus replied frankly.
"That you were able to resist at all is quite the feat. Dahlacia is even stronger than I am."
"That is surprising, I never imagined that one God could be stronger than another." He replied.
"Of course there is a difference. The size of a realm and the number of deities within it have a major influence on each individual deity's power. Oh, excuse me for a moment." She says while turning around.
With the simple gesture of bringing her hands together in prayer, the purple rift in front of her slams shut. With a playful exhale, done for theatrics and not exhaustion, she turned to face Amadeus once again.
"It took a while to regain control of that one." She said while dramatically wiping sweat that never appeared.
"Might I ask what that was? It seemed like you just closed some kind of portal to another realm." He asks curiously.
"Nothing much, just the void trying to create a pathway into this realm." Her tone was casual, like she was discussing the weather and not a potentially cataclysmic event.
"The void?" He parroted.
"Yes, the space in-between that connects all other realms together. You've already passed through it once when your soul came here. Malice is currently using the void to find its way into my realm. I find it quite annoying. Forcing me, the great god, to go around and clean these rifts like some common maid." Her expression remained neutral, but it gained a dangerous edge.
"I'm… sorry to hear that." He said, genuinely intimidated for the first time since meeting the serene Goddess.
"Speaking of, might I see the core in your pouch?" She asks politely, while her intimidating aura returns to normal.
"Yes, of course." As much as he wanted to keep the core for research purposes, he knew he couldn't refuse the being in front of him. At least not as he is now.
He holds the crystal in front of the Goddess.
"Do you intend to destroy it?" He asks.
"I do. Do you have some kind of use for it?" She wonders.
"I was hoping to study it. To understand more about this malice that has plagued the realm."
"Interesting." The Goddess pauses to consider something.
"Yes, that could work out." She says, mostly to herself.
"Very well! I shall entrust that core to you, as well as a couple gifts!" She says with a smile.
With a simple wave of her hand, she freely manipulates the world around her. The crystal in Amadeus' hand changes from violet to lavender. Underneath the crystal, on the palm of his right hand a runic symbol is burned into his flesh, while a small band of runic symbols is burned into his wrist, like a tattooed bracelet.
"Agh." Amadeus winced in pain. "What was that?"
"I neutralized the malice in the crystal just enough that you can study it safely. The runic symbol on your palm is the symbol for the void. It behaves very differently than any elemental magic. Oh, and it's currently considered illegal to know or use void magic. Only villains or cultists currently use it, so I would recommend keeping it a secret." She said with a sweet smile.
"I see…" He looks down at the visible symbol on his palm. "So you've just branded me as a criminal…"
"Not to worry, the symbols I gave you are only visible to the user or deities."
"That's good to know. I appreciate this new field of study you've gifted me, but I am curious as to why." He said while tilting his head.
"You'll need knowledge of the void if you want to make any progress on researching the malice. And if you do find out anything important, like a weakness, a vulnerability, how to defeat it, anything of that nature, I want you to report it to me."
She materializes a map out of thin air and hands it to Amadeus.
"When you discover such information, I want you to go to one of the marked areas on the map. You'll find a shrine there. Simply climb to the top and run your mana through the runic symbols on your wrist. That will create a link between us to communicate." She explained.
"So it's a mutually beneficial relationship. You gave me a new path of research, and I help combat malice through that research." He declares his assessment of the situation.
"If that's how you choose to interpret this situation." She said, subtly implying she had other goals in mind.
"Oh, and you will need to be the one in control of the body when you approach the areas marked on the map." She remembered.
"I can do that, but why must it be me." He asks.
"It's because the shrine at its center possesses the same constitution as me. Creatures of this world are unable to function properly in my presence. It's like my very existence overwhelms them, but you, as an otherworlder who's soul is currently functioning as a primal spirit, are immune to the effect."
"Is that the cause of all the weird phenomena? Of everyone being frozen in place?" He attempts to confirm his suspicions.
"Yes. The boy was more resilient to the effect since he shares a body with you, but even that had its limits." She says while looking up at the position of the moons in the sky.
"I must be going now. It was truly a pleasure to talk to you Amadeus. With my constitution, I am only ever able to converse with other gods. It becomes tiresome, only being able to talk to the same unchanging beings for eons. This was a wonderful breath of fresh air." The Goddess says with a warm smile.
"I enjoyed the conversation as well. It was fascinating and I learned quite a bit." He returned her smile with a polite nod.
"Good. Take care to remain untainted in your research into malice and the void. It would sadden me to have to cleanse you." Her eyes showed no hatred, only mournful determination.
"I will keep that in mind..."
"Goodbye Amadeus."
And just like that she was gone. No bright light. No puff of smoke. Just gone.
He stands there for a moment before deciding to try the void rune. His mana flows into the shape on his palm as a black sphere manifests, violently rippling with a chaotic energy that was unlike anything he had seen before.
"Amadeus? What just happened?" Reid interrupts him through the mental plane.
The sphere disappears as he stops the mana flow.
"Well, you know those 'crazy unbelievable stories' I always tell you?"
"Yes?"
"Would you like to hear another?"
"Oh no…"
A sense of dread overtook the boy as he prepared to hear another story that broke every bit of his common sense.