Chương 401: Within the Soul

(Later in the Night) Vale sat still at the edge of the lake. It was late now, and the sun had long since fallen below the horizon. Only the stars remained above him, their light shining across the calm water. Small waves moved over the surface, breaking their reflections now and then. He had taken off the upper half of his armour and sat with his legs crossed. His hands rested loosely on his knees, while his eyes stayed closed. His breathing was slow and steady. He was not trying to use Nirvana yet.

For now, he was only getting ready. He needed to clear his mind and push away every thought that did not matter. Nirvana needed full focus. Even one thought could break his control, so Vale tried to let his mind become as empty as possible. Yet there was something he could not push away. Something had been bothering him for some time. He had only started to notice it recently. Illu's death had pushed almost everything else out of his mind.

Losing his friend, learning that he had been murdered, and dealing with everything that followed had happened too fast for Vale to really think about his own feelings. Now that the camp was quiet and there was nothing demanding his attention, that strange feeling had returned.

'What is this?' Vale could not explain it. It felt as if a part of him was hidden from his own mind. There was something inside him that he should have been able to notice, yet every time he tried to understand it, it slipped away. It was like knowing that something was standing behind you without ever being able to turn around and see it. Vale slowly lowered his breathing even more. His body became still as he pushed his focus away from the world around him.

He stopped thinking about the lake, the camp, and even his own body. Instead, he turned his attention inward and focused on the deepest part of himself. His soul. Vale took one slow breath. Then he activated Nirvana. Pain rushed through his entire body. It felt as though he was being burned, frozen, crushed, shot, and torn apart all at once. Every nerve seemed to scream at him, and every part of his body reacted to the change. Yet from the outside, almost nothing happened.

Vale remained seated in the same place, his face calm and his breathing under control. He refused to let the pain break his focus. He had to find the thing he had been sensing. The world around him slowly began to lose its shape. The lake, the trees, the ground, and the night sky all faded into raw Atum. Matter lost its form. Energy became meaningless. Even distance stopped making sense. Everything around Vale slowly broke down into the same basic force. He allowed it to disappear. Then he pushed deeper.

The pain grew worse, but Vale endured it. For a moment, his thoughts moved toward Zellion and the strange amount of Atum stored within his mechanical arm. It was more than an ordinary human could hold, but it was nowhere near what Vale would expect from a being known as a god. Its amount was closer to what Callum or Evelyn possessed.

'If Zellion really is a god, why is his Atum so low?' A god should have far more. Someone who could create Atum should have an almost endless supply of it. The thought did not make sense, but Vale forced himself to ignore it. He could think about Zellion later. Right now, he needed to keep going. His awareness became more precise. He could feel every beat of his heart and every movement of blood through his veins. He could feel his muscles tighten and relax with each breath.

He could even sense the smallest changes within his own body. Then he felt something else. A strange burning feeling appeared deep inside him. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Vale focused on it. He went deeper. Even without a Signature, Vale had always been hard for normal powers to detect. Even Nirvana couldn't recognise his existence. It was almost as if reality itself had trouble understanding what he was. But that did not matter anymore. Vale kept going.

Deeper into himself. Further than he had ever gone before. Then something changed. His focus suddenly locked onto something buried far below his awareness. There was something inside him. At first, Vale could not understand what he was sensing. It was not simply large. Calling it large was not enough. It felt as though it had no clear size at all. It was everywhere. No. It was him. No. That was wrong too. Vale's thoughts began to break apart as he tried to understand it.

The closer he looked, the less sense it made. He could not tell where the thing ended and where he began.

'What is this?' Fear suddenly took hold of him. Vale tried to end Nirvana. Nothing happened. His eyes flew open. Darkness surrounded him. He was no longer sitting beside the lake. He could not see his body, the stars, or anything else from the outside world. He felt trapped inside himself, surrounded by a darkness that seemed to have no end. An unseen force pressed against his soul. Vale dropped to one knee and gasped as the pressure grew stronger. It felt as if something enormous was crushing him from the inside.

Something was there. He could feel it. He could not see it, and he could not hear it. There was no movement in the dark. No sound. Not even a change in the air. Yet Vale knew it was there. Maybe it did not need to move. Maybe its existence was enough. Vale swallowed as fear spread through him.

'What could be this huge?' Only one possible answer came to mind.

'Kealix?' Could this be Kealix without his seals? It was possible. Vale had never seen what Kealix was truly like without them, so perhaps this was what remained underneath.

"Kealix!" Vale shouted into the darkness.

"Is that you?!" There was no answer. Instead, the presence grew stronger. Vale's soul shook under its weight. It felt like he was being crushed from every side, and small parts of his soul began to break apart under the pressure.

"Shit..." His hands trembled as he tried to force himself up.

"I need to get out." He tried to open Nirvana again. Nothing happened.

"Come on!" Still nothing. The pressure grew even worse. Vale could feel his soul falling apart, and there was no doubt left in his mind. He was dying. The force was not only hurting his soul. His body was being affected too. His lungs felt as if something huge had wrapped around his chest and was slowly squeezing the air from them. His vision blurred, and his breathing became short and weak.

"Shit!" Vale slammed his fist into the ground. The darkness did not even react. Lion's Claw. He forced the technique out with everything he had. Vale suddenly vomited, but no blood came from his body. Instead, something seemed to spill from his soul. It looked like a mix of blood and black ink before it scattered into the darkness. His vision flickered, and his body shook. He could barely speak anymore.

"I'm going to die..." Vale clenched his teeth as fear slowly turned into anger. Not yet. He could not die yet. Not before he understood what had happened. Not before he found the answers he had spent so long searching for. He had come too far to lose everything now. He needed something to save him. Anything. Then a voice tore through the darkness.

"Enough!" Golden light exploded around Vale. It filled the dark space and pushed the crushing force away. The pressure weakened at once, and Vale fell forward as his lungs finally opened again. He sucked in deep breaths, struggling to recover. Someone stood in front of him. A man. His long hair carried the same deep black colour as Vale's own. Both hands were raised, and golden light poured from his palms. The light spread through the darkness like a wall, keeping the strange presence away from Vale.

The thing in the darkness pulled back. Then something moved beyond the light. For a brief moment, the darkness parted. Vale saw something. Something enormous. He could not understand its shape. He could not tell where it began or where it ended. His mind struggled to even accept what he was seeing. He only knew one thing. It was there. Then the darkness closed again as the golden light grew stronger. Vale forced himself to look at the man standing in front of him.

His breathing was still rough, but the familiar sight was enough to calm him. Broken armour covered the man's body. Several weapons were still buried in his flesh, just as Vale remembered. That face. That presence. There was no mistaking him. Vale managed a weak smile.

"Kealix..." Before he could say anything else, his body gave out. His soul shook again, sending another wave of blood-like energy into the darkness. Kealix caught him before he could fall. The golden light continued to pour from his hands, keeping the darkness away from Vale.

"You're one hell of an idiot," Kealix muttered as he held him.

"Coming here without knowing what was waiting inside." Vale wanted to answer, but he could barely stay awake. His body felt empty, and his mind was slowly fading. Kealix looked toward the darkness one last time. Whatever waited there had gone quiet. Then the golden light grew brighter. It wrapped around both of them and swallowed their forms. A moment later, they were gone. The darkness remained behind. It was silent once again, with nothing left inside it except the strange presence that had been waiting for Vale.

Its prey had escaped. But deep within Vale's soul, that presence still moved. It had been forced back. It had been denied. And whatever it was, it was not pleased.