82 Chapter 82

"All I feel is warmth running through me." Aerwyn replied.

"That's what it feels like to use mana, master. Whatever this darkness is, it's like every centimeter is made of pure, infinite energy. It's amazing~" Erit announced in a giddy tone.

"Another thing Tylin failed to inform me of..." As Aerwyn grumbled about Tylin, the bubble-like tendrils snapped along the soul stings causing Aerwyn to release a pained gasp.

"Are you ok, master?" Rin asked with a concerned voice.

"You guys didn't feel that?" Aerwyn asked as the bubble-like tendrils receded, leaving all four souls looking much like his only far smaller.

"...Feel what?"

"Ugh, why is it that I'm the only one that suffers?" Aerwyn groaned in frustration.

"A true ruler bears the sadness and joy of their subjects, master." Erit haughtily proclaimed.

"If you knew how it felt, you wouldn't be spouting such nonsense, miss 'i want everything'."

"It's probably because we don't feel pain unless we want to." Ren chimed in as Erit scoffed defensively.

"Huh? Is that true? I didn't know that... In fact, there's a lot I don't know about. Like what you guys can and can't do..." Aerwyn trailed off as he gazed towards Erit's soul.

"Huh? Why are you staring, master? This little spider is a maiden, such an intense gaze will cause my little knees to buckle in anticipation~."

"Master! Be nice to Erit. She's a lady!" Rin cried out words that we're undoubtedly learned from spending too much time with Erit.

"She's joking Rin... You're a floating orb. You don't have knees, nor I, eyes. How can you even tell that I'm looking at you?"

"I'd recognize a lus-"

"Um, master? Isn't there a battle going on right now?" Teek interjected before Erit could finish.

"Time is slower in here, that's why all the other souls appear to be frozen. Whatever brought us here isn't finished yet, else we would be able to leave."

"What other souls?" Ren asked.

"The souls of the other undead and fallen, what do you mean?... Wait, can you not see them?"

"All I can see is our souls and masters. Everything else is shrouded in a sea of darkness."

"Hmm, I suppose that means you didn't gain the ability to see souls simply by being here. Did you guys feel anything else that might explain why you're here?"

"I feel full! Like I just ate a yummy fat lok all by myself." Rin happily announced.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what he meant, dumb Rin. That doesn't help us at all." Ren scolded.

"Don't pick on me, Ren! I'm just trying to help master."

"Then don't say useless things all the time."

"Teek, what about you?" Aerwyn asked, ignoring the two bickering brexil cats.

"Um, I too feel full, master. I'm not good at sensing or controlling mana like Miss Erit is, but it feels like there is a lot of mana within me. It... just feels different than mana, like it doesn't belong to me."

"That's it!" Erit proclaimed but chose not to follow up on her sudden outburst.

"...Care to elaborate for the rest of us, Erit?"

"This little spider thinks that master's infinite power is flowing through us, that's why it feels foreign and unwieldy. It feels almost as though I would need to ask it to perform rather than controlling it myself."

"...I-is that so?"

Aerwyn felt a chill down his nonexistent spine as Erit's words made him come to a sudden terrifying realization. From the second, he opened his eyes; he hasn't once felt like the darkness that controlled his powers was a part of him. He had to ask it to perform just like Erit said. It's even appeared to have a mind of its own at times, seemingly acting out of a primal will like when it hesitated to put out the soul flames that were burning the brexil cat forest.

It seemed like he'd never run out of questions about his powers. He didn't even know what his power was when he was a god. During his vision, his doppelganger appeared even more surprised at the tenebrous tendrils than his frightened uncle. He hadn't given it much thought until now, but that could mean that his doppelganger didn't even know about the darkness to begin with. That or it acted on its own when his life was threatened, but either way, it would mean that he didn't have complete control over it.

Of course, he'd never say these words out loud, especially not in front of Erit. The last thing he needed was to lose what little control he had over his fallen. He needed more information about his powers, but he had no one to turn to for answers when even his godly doppelganger appeared to know little about it.

'The gate...' As those words entered his mind, an overwhelming sense of hunger took ahold of him. It felt as though he hadn't eaten in a lifetime, and before him was an extravagant feast waiting to be devoured. The sense of hunger felt foreign like it did when he first used his soul flames in Tylin's guest room, but what worried him even more was the fact that it felt far less foreign than it did at that time.

Aerwyn quickly gained control of his racing thoughts and looked down at his soul. The darkness was still being pumped into the bubble as it continued to expand, and as if on cue, the inflated bubble retracted abruptly. Once again, he experienced mind-shattering pain as the bubble returned to the size of an ordinary soul despite being filled to the brim with so much darkness.

The pain dissipated as quickly as it came, and Aerwyn could tell that whatever the darkness was doing this time, it had finished its task.

"It's done, let's go."

"Yes, master, but how do we leave?" Erit asked.

"Just imagine opening your eyes, I'll wait for you guys to leave first just in case."

A few moments of silence passed before Erit spoke up once more.

"...Nothing's happening, master."

"Hmm, maybe I need to be the one to wake us up?"

Aerwyn imagined leaving the darkness with the girls, and he immediately opened his true eyes to Gromak and the fallen orcs embattled just a dozen meters away. He looked over to Erit to check if she had woken up and was stunned by the sight of her. She was staring at her hands with a dazzling triumphant smile, but he wasn't stunned by her beauty this time. He was stunned by the tenebrous darkness emanating from her hands.

The strangest thing of all was that he felt a strong connection with it, despite it emanating from Erit. The darkness poured forth from her hands into two orbs that floated above them. The orbs had tiny tendrils poking out of them, making them look as if it was a soul formed from darkness instead of light. They shot out from her hands as quickly as they formed, and Aerwyn noticed that the orbs appeared to shrink as they traveled, almost as if they were dissipating the very moment they left Erit.

The two tenebrous orbs darted in separate directions, finding the corpse of the Lok'ra commander Gromok had killed along with another nameless Lok'ra soldier. They entered the chests of each, and a process much like Aerwyn's resurrection began. Their bodies spasmed and contorted in unnatural ways for a moment before they rose to their feet.

Aerwyn could see the mangled flesh of the Lok'ra commanders face remained unchanged from when Gromok had stabbed him, yet he rose to his feet all the same. The creature's movements as it began to walk and then run weren't as fluid as Aerwyn's undead either. It strangely reminded him of when he first woke up, and his body felt awkward as if he didn't know how much strength to put into each step.

The creature appeared to figure out how to sprint much quicker than it took Aerwyn to even walk, which left a sour taste in his mouth. It ran towards the nearest living Lok'ra who was embattled with a fallen, the Lok'ra noticed the creatures approach, and as it grew within striking distance, the Lok'ra turned and sent the creature flying with its shield. Unfortunately for the Lok'ra, that one moment of self-defense was all the fallen needed to send the pointy end of his krea into the Lok'ra soldier's throat.

The entire scene from the darkness manifesting in Erit's hand to the Lok'ra soldier's death, took mere moments, leaving Aerwyn feeling somewhat dazed. As his army of undead passed him by and entered the battle, he turned his gaze back to Erit, who met his eyes with the same triumphant grin.

"...How did you do that?" Aerwyn almost didn't want to ask due to one part pride and another part fear but managed to mouth out the words regardless. It wouldn't be the first time Erit outperformed him using his own power.

"I simply let masters power flow through me and do what it wants." She smiled and looked to Rin and Ren.

"The girls should be able to do the same now, including Teek."