Chapter 518: An elaborate trap

(AN: Let me start by saying sorry for the weird update schedule lately. I would rather not go into details for now, but believe me, when I say, I'm dealing with some things and I'm trying my best to get everything out of the way.)

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His body listlessly fell down as Aiden's consciousness was suddenly and so violently ripped away. Like a small cave, the inner walls of the tree supported his unconscious self, keeping him comfortably situated whilst his mind wandered somewhere else.

…

Feeling a powerful force sucking away everything, Aiden felt as if he have fallen into a giant whirlpool in the midst of a raging storm on the sea. He was helpless, feeling more like a rag doll than anything else as his spiritual body was flung from side to side. 

Worse that he had no idea what was happening. Normally when he absolves the precious organ of a humanoid creature, he would go through a much gentler experience. Flicks, snippets or sometimes undecipherable memory fragments would play out in front of him as he was forced to watch through the life of the being he just absorbed. 

Yet whatever was happening was unlike what he had ever had the pleasure to go through. He was clueless, powerless to even do something.

He was falling through a dark hole, a chasm without seemingly any land in sight. He could feel the power of the invisible force that forcefully tugged him along this mysterious journey. 

Eventually, his descent was put to a stop as the dark chasm turned, forming a horizontal tunnel. Though it was still devoid of any light, the feeling of not falling deeper into the unknown was the only sensation that assisted the bewildered boy.

Even though he was shocked at first, he wasn't scared and with time he slowly collected his thoughts and calmed his nerves. Whatever this thing was, it was something that was probably put into as a sort of safety measure. 

'Whoever is that Master, it knows more about me than I would have thought… Just who is he?' He muttered inwardly. If anything, the whole experience revealed a crucial detail to Aiden: That Master somehow knew important secrets that he never shared with anyone. He wasn't sure if he was aware of his true origins, or the truth about his race, but at the very least he was aware of the memories he would gain through the consumption of these organs.

Eventually, the speed, the pace of his journey began to dwindle, only to come to a slow halt once he arrived at what seemed like the same dark void, the empty darkness as before. Still, Aiden could feel it was different. The dimensions for one, were much wider, making this area, not a tunnel or a chasm but somewhat similar to a giant room, or probably closer to a hall, a sanctum.

Being yanked out of his body, Aiden was only present in a mere spiritual form, an entity without any solid form. A floating blurry spirit without any clear form to look at. 

If looking at him from the outside, he was more like a floating bottomless torso, a hazy humanoid outline that if matched with the physical form, would vaguely match his lean shape.

Thanks to his system, even without any access to his senses, his situation wasn't entirely hopeless. The system continuously generated a map for him, even if he was in some sort of strange sub-world, or an artificial realm created by some mad sorcerer, he at least had a primitive outline of his trek towards this space.

Feeling no presence nearby, nor feeling any attempt at making contact, Aiden was left alone in the empty void. There were no memories, or visions of the deceased playing around anywhere, it was as if he was thrown into a dark pit, hoping he would lose his sanity and crumble down eventually. 

It was a nasty, elaborate trap set by someone powerful, twisting its minions into something horrific without any disregard to their life at all. 

Aiden frowned as he now understood that those creatures were abominations in the truest sense of the word. There was nothing normal, natural about them any more. Even if they were once humans, individuals, with their own lives at their hand, goals they wanted to fulfill and heights to surpass… that were all taken away from them. They were nothing but empty shells, soulless husks, controlled by whatever dark, twisted magic was in there. 

Still, there was one thing that Aiden couldn't understand till now. There were not one, but two entities living inside those husks when he checked with the system. First he thought that one is the person itself while the other was something else, but now… he wasn't sure.

'Just what are those six? Even better… who is that masked master? What did he want with me?' He asked the questions, though there was no one to answer him. 

Shaking himself, Aiden forcefully turned his attention back to the situation at hand. There was no time to wallow in self-pity and misery or lament on the events. He needed to first understand where he was, try to find out how he got to this place and then, make a plan to return. To escape from this place whatever it truly was.

Taking a calming sigh, Aiden first collected himself, recomposing his demeanor before he sent out waves surging with his energy. Traversing the distance with vast, immense speeds, the ripples reached further and further with each passing second, sending whatever information they could unveil back to the system, who diligently worked to map the area he was in.

Focusing on the map, Aiden was startled when a familiar voice suddenly reached out to him.

'[What in the hell did you find yourself in now Aiden?!]'

Enya's berating tone shocked the boy, who suddenly jumped and asked.

'Wha-… Whe-… How?!' He stuttered, unable to form a normal question.

Still, having shared access to him, Enya knew what he was inquiring about. Her soft giggle echoed around their empty dark space.

'[Aiden… oh Aiden…]' She sighed theatrically, pausing for a moment for further effect before resuming '[Have you forgotten that I am forever bound to your soul? Wherever you go, even if just in your spiritual…]' She paused for a second, as she took a once-over at his hazy, blurry floating silhouette, humming with an appreciative tone. '[…form… I gotta say, I wasn't expecting you to be capable of even reaching this stage and more like you would like me in my current state…. You are more and more surprising, Aiden.]'

Then, before Aiden would have had a chance to react to the sudden attack from his guide, the little ball of light appeared in front of him, as it began to swoop from left to right checking their immediate surroundings.

'[This is going to be a problem…]'

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AN: Hey there Readers!

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