Chapter 250: Night attack developments (4)

No, she is certainly still alive. So it must be something causing her blood to blacken that is causing it. Eldrian thought after placing his hands on her thigh. Having learned that doing so would make controlling his spell, or in this case his thoughts, easier. As he had learned when treating Maria.

Alright, focus. I can keep track of my mageia, my concrete thoughts, until they reach the tips of my fingers. Once they leave I won't be receiving feedback, so I must find that mana, before I just start imagining I am controlling something. Eldrian thought to himself, trying to run through what he expected would happen. Once I find it, I just need to cling to it and search for the source.

Taking a deep breath he readied himself for what he expected would be a thought treatment. He truly hoped that Kydone was not on the edge of death, but he dared not believe in luck. While her fur covered most of her skin. Eldrian could see that her face was pale even through it. He also realized that her breathing was becoming slower.

Alright, Eldrian mumbled as he started. Not caring for the possible repercussions, not with a friend's life on the line. Quickly he sent his thoughts to the edge of his fingers, feeling the mana moving around in that area he confirmed where his thoughts were. He then willed them to go past, to go outside. Normally when he did this nothing would be felt, as if he was no longer controlling mageia but just thinking.

This time was different, in seconds, he started feeling a hideous poisonous feeling corrupting him and his thoughts. His instinct told him to quickly stop, to stay away from this pit of vileness. Fighting through it Eldrian tried to find the mana, yet all that he found was this vileness.

That was until something robbed his consciousness and he was no longer an observer from outside. Suddenly he lost control of his body and he was just a thought in a pit of unending extreme emotions.

While some of them were good, the majority were bad. The good ones were things such as pure relief, total acceptance, calmness of mind... The bad ones were terrible; extreme regret, burning hatred, despair, loss, hunger for vengeance...

Eldrian quickly became lost in this pool of extremes. Something nudging at him to just accept, to not care about all the emotions. He knew doing so would be bad, as this was just what had happened when he meditated in the magic abyss.

Fucking hell! What the hell is going on!? Eldrian shouted, but no words came. His body had fallen over from the pain caused by all these emotions, though he felt non of it. Slowly he even started receiving images of what he could only assume was the last moments of countless individuals.

It was indescribable; mostly filled with pain and regret, but quite often also filled with the wonder of sagelike knowledge. As these emotional states ate at his focus, Eldrian could feel his energy being robbed. Being torn from him, from his small wisp of consciousness.

Fuck, it is like last time! Eldrian cursed, Why? Is this related to souls? Eldrian asked trying to get control over what he assumed was his soul. All he could really say was that it was his consciousness, and it was being robbed. It felt extremely terrible and scared him half to death.

Instead of focusing on fighting, after realizing he had no way to. Eldrian simply tried to move away instead. To get out and back to his body.

This certainly was not easy, every millimeter he moved, it would feel like he was being pulled by a massive magnet to stay put. That was until his consciousness reached the area in Kydone that was not corrupted. As soon as he managed this, he felt a completely different sensation.

While he was still blocked from his body, his thoughts were allowed to be free, and that which had been robbed returned to him. Causing fragments of thoughts and emotions to interrupt his thought process as he tried figuring out what was going on.

Now what was surrounding him was the feeling of being free, not a pit of extremes. Wind passing past him extremely quickly as he moved through plains, forests, or snow. The where changed constantly, but the what stayed. It was always a feeling of being free to move where he wanted.

Soon this freeing emotion clashed against the pit of extremes, causing Kydone massive pain. Eldrian could sense that as the emotional freedom suddenly became murky, pulled down to reality. Reminded of the consequences of what truly being free meant.

Shit! That is not at all what I expected. Eldrian cursed as he started recovering, trying to figure out the extent of this corruption to determine if he could do anything or not. This was not easy as nothing was real, he couldn't even see in this state. At least last time he had had the heart to focus on. Here there was just nothingness, not an abyss of blackness. Just nothingness.

Everything seemingly worked as emotions or concepts, and the only way to discover the place was to move himself around and see the effects the different places would have on him. Eldrian did just that, discovering a myriad of different emotions all mostly mixed with the theme of trying to be free, or being free.

After a few minutes, he concluded that the pit of extremes was limited to but a small part of what he had experienced. Though he had no idea what he was actually experiencing, he was just happy that the pit was limited and not spread throughout.

What is this place really? And what is everything I am feeling, I think the best word is auras. In that case, an aura of... Death, yes death is the best fit. An aura of death has invaded Kydone.

Eldrian had no idea what to do now, he had no idea what he could do or how to fix the problem. However he felt stressed for time, so he dared not let time pass. Even though time felt meaningless in this place and state, he feared that Kydone was closing in on death. Her aura of freeness was weakening enough for him to tell with ease.

Wind was no longer soaring freely past him, it was now just a breeze. She was no longer sprinting freely, but rather jogging. Pulled back by this aura of death.

While Eldrian was scared, he tried to push that down and just do something. Anything. So he quickly decided to throw away all safety and dive back into the aura of death. To search for its origin, the cause that allowed this aura to stay dense even though it was spreading out.

It was like a drop of ink dropping into water, but for some reason, the density of the first dropped stayed the same. Even though countless water has been dyed black by it. Having realized this, Eldrian knew there must be something feeding the aura of death, else it must be defeated simply by the vastness of what he assumed was Kydone's consciousness.

Diving into this small aura of death, Eldrian tried to shield his mind as he searched for the cause. Naturally, he faltered, but he at least managed to limit the extent to which his mind was corrupted now that he knew what to expect. After what felt like hours he found a small black wisp inside this aura. Upon finding it Eldrian was jarred as time seemed to end.

All the invading emotions disappeared, leaving him now in a simple space of mixed color with this completely black wisp in the center.

'A visitor, oh how long it has been.' Came a voice to Eldrian, 'Are you a dying hero? Hasn't it been long since one of them died... No... You are far too weak; then how did you find me?' The voice continued as Eldrian remained frozen.

'Right, you can't even move, how strange. You are fighting death... Why? I mean no harm, I am just... Death... Does the one I am inhabiting not deserve death? You are external, that is clear... I truly mean no harm, I am just here to welcome this person... Why are you fighting? This is but a thought, how impressive...'

As it kept on speaking Eldrian slowly managed to move again, causing the wisp to shout out in surprise. 'How are you moving? Are you not afraid of death, or have you accepted? Are you coming with me?' As it asked the last question it sounded excited and its voice tempting, causing Eldrian to think for a moment that he should go with.

He shuddered as he realized how that simple sentence had corrupted his thoughts more than all those extreme emotions could. Not even managing to form a response, Eldrian simply focused on the wisp. Tunning out its questions as he tried to formulate at least one complete thought in his mind. Most being destroyed before they could form complete 'words'.

Finally, he managed, shouting with all his strength, 'LEAVE!' With that shout, Eldrian quickly lost control of his thought-wisp, being pulled out of where ever he was just barely managing to confirm that so was the black wisp.

The wisp was absolutely shocked by this reply, feeling itself being pulled away shocked it even more. How did you? What did you? What are you? It asked as it dissipated into nothingness, along with the aura of death encasing Kydone.

Eldrian, back into his avatar, started wrenching his guts out as everything he experienced repeated itself in but seconds. Looking at the messages from Erik he realized not even a full minute had passed.