Chương 22: 12A. The Serpent And The Soulspace

Sam didn't know what to expect of his soulspace. From what he had heard and read, it differed from person to person. Talent seeds awakened it, giving it a foundation. Spirits and attunements shaped the environment. Then, it was up to the awakened to shape it using his vessels. No literature described how Greater Spirits affected the process. One student spoke of a desert oasis he had visited on a distant plateau with his Ranger father. Another mentioned the field outside Bastian where he had his first kiss.

A third spoke of a burning crater where lava ascended up the sides and spilled out into whatever lay beyond. Initially, Sam expected a childhood memory or the station where he met Oroboros. Part of him hoped it would be the food court where he and his father would spend hours waiting for the bank to close, or the park near the old Harrow on the Hill station where Sam and his parents would picnic on a sunny day. Instead, Sam found himself back in a wide stony expanse.

Oros moved along the gravelly ground, drawing a large figure eight around the two Vessel foundations, twelve feet apart.

"I wasn't expecting it to be so barren," Sam commented, studying his surroundings. Boulders and stony cliffs bordered the mile-wide clearing. All surfaces appeared scarred and burned, leaving him to question whether it was truly what his soul looked like after years of loss, injury, and abuse. Dark clouds drifted overhead, obscuring the blue sky. Sunlight leaked through rare openings, adding moving touches of brightness to the bleak landscape.

"Is this really what my soul looks like, or is Oroboros responsible?"

"Barren is incorrect," Oros said.

"Open your eyes." Sam turned his attention away from the boulders and cliff faces bordering the flat clearing. Moss grew on the stones around each foundation. It darkened, dried, and faded into nothing whenever Oros's head approached, but then new growth flourished when she passed. Patches of moss extended between the two foundations. The endless cycle of growth and decay made it look like an hourglass regularly emptying and refilling with Oros's movements.

"Fine," Sam said.

"I was wrong. We have moss. Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Raw materials from the essence we consumed. Arboreal. Life. Sustenance. Sculpt. Build."

"Life attunement?" Sam frowned, trying to get his head around how his talent and spirit functioned. Attunements and their affiliated essences acted as the raw building material for vessels. However, Genesis and Terminus, growth and decay, were esoteric concepts lacking direct material representation, as far as Sam could tell. He knelt by one of the foundations and ran his fingers along the moss. It was a flat circular slab as wide as he was tall.

"These will form my vessels? I'm not sure how that will work. You consume essences and create raw materials for me to build?"

"And corruption," Oros corrected Oros didn't need to explain. A shiver ran down Sam's spine as images and concepts flooded his brain. Sam struggled to understand most of it, but the pieces gradually fell into place, creating a jigsaw full of holes.

"Two attunements," Sam stated.

"Genesis. Terminus. I can build vessels that channel both energies or are dedicated to either."

"Correct." More of the puzzle came together. Energies and materials that came from absorbed essences and substances wouldn't grant Sam access to a new attunement. However, when used as a building material, it would affect the technique.

"What did that essence give us?" Sam asked. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Instead of answering, Oros shuddered. Her scales took on a green hue, and the moss around Sam's fingers stopped decaying. It grew, growing thick and spongy. He grabbed a handful, squeezed and pulled. It felt tough and durable, but also had a strange, gelatinous quality that slipped between his fingers, almost bulging under the pressure.

When he let go, the mossy mass bounced back to its basic form.

"This could be decent for a vessel dedicated to Internal Ether Flow," Sam said after taking a moment longer to study the still-growing moss's texture, elasticity, and toughness.

"It should affect how my ether channels develop, correct?" Once again, the familiar didn't answer. Instead, more images followed. Sam saw a version of moss-made himself moving with serpentine fluidity. The flexibility and elegance almost made it look like dancing. He understood what Oros was trying to say. Sam needed to look beyond IEF's base function. It could serve as the foundation of a full-body technique.

"If I tie this to Genesis, it should also increase my healing and recovery," he asked.

"Correct?"

"Correct, but not." Oros's words made the stones around her head vibrate. It almost felt as if the sound wasn't coming from her but from every surface around her.

"Purely Genesis will deage you and undo all training and enhancement. Balance is necessary."

"So I need Terminus to counteract things." Sam frowned, glancing at the second foundation.

"And I only get the two vessels?" More shall emerge when you complete your star.

"Unfortunate. I'll need to make a choice. Feather Step or Pulsing Palm?" He received no help with the decision. Oros remained silent. Feather Step had saved his life multiple times over the past three months. It was invaluable. However, he always had more powerful individuals to protect him and cover his rear. He no longer had any such protections. Until Iris recovered, the burden of putting down enemies was on him. They were on Level Four, and there was no telling how long the hand cannon would last.

He needed offense.

"I suppose I can funnel energy away from IEF to fuel Feather Step. Can't do without a dedicated movement or mobility technique." Sam sighed.

"Fuck it. Pulsing Palm it is." He took a step back from the moss, studying the foundations and the path carved by Oros's movements. The images she had shared through their telepathic bond gradually took shape. The stories spoke of the awakened growing by building grand structures in their soul spaces using the vessels. Each star resided in a separate section or level and fed its respective vessel energy. Many also linked the levels and vessels for efficiency and fusing techniques.

He had only heard chatter in the academy and didn't have access to the relevant texts nor the time to read them. It wasn't a concern then. Survival and just awakening were all he worried about. The images Oros shared weren't just ideas and suggestions. Sam realized they were images of the past. When he died, the familiar would return to Oroboros with all the knowledge and information she had gathered.

He was looking at memories of the souls who had once paired with the Great Spirit and then failed to achieve immortality. Sam saw grand basins with smaller vessels that functioned as tiered fountains, feeding energy to the greater pool. Palaces looked like clusters of tree houses held together by countless wooden bridges; lights of varying colors leaked through their openings. He marveled at grand spires with snakes coiling around them.

Each housed stars on separate levels or structures, but he could also feel them as part of the greater whole.

"I don't need to decide straight away, do I?" Sam asked, studying the clearing with renewed eyes. Where there were empty spaces, he saw room for growth and future foundations.

"Pillars." He said, pointing to spots just outside Oros's path.

"Concentric circles and becoming supports for the higher levels. I see a spire that wraps around itself, coiling and rising higher." Sam looked at Oros.

"Or am I being overambitious?"

"Your mind." She sounded amused.

"It's different. Strange."

"What do you know of minds? Am I that different?"

"I'm new. I don't know humans." Oros's shaky words betrayed her hesitation.

"I only know you and Father's memories. You're scared. But you think big. You want more. The others were confident. Fighters. Strong. They knew what they wanted and couldn't wait to get there. Immortality. But you don't care." The communication and understanding between master and familiar felt significantly stronger and clearer in the soulspace. The more time they spent within and around each other, the better they understood each other.