B6 Chapter 6: Check In

“Don’t greet me like that, brat,” Eraztis said.

His voice echoed through the realm and reverberated across the stars in a way that made them flicker. Except it came with none of the soul-shaking authority that demanded one to listen, so I wasn’t too worried.

I summoned an astral copy of my beanbag and sank, groaning as my limbs touched cloud-like softness. The annoyed god continued to hover before me, his shadows sometimes stretching into the infinite, giving off the look of an omnipresent giant with lashing tentacles.

My eyes settled on the one tentacle near the top right of his cheek, a smaller, half-formed nub compared to the rest. 

“You have grown rather complacent in the presence of a god. Fools of similar make are usually recorded as long tales to teach children about the arrogance of mortals. Tales that involve divine retribution,” Eraztis hissed. His eyes met mine and his scowl deepened. “Don’t look at me so, boy. I know what dark thoughts reside in your head. Such blasphemy should always be tempered with caution.”

I cracked a smile. “Reading my memories again? I’m surprised you’re able.”

Eraztis scoffed. “I’m a god of memories and souls. You are also in my domain. As well, you are a scion of my faith, marked by my mana. Even if you were to wear that mask of yours, it could not prevent me if I tried.”

“And I distinctly remember Cal’s words regarding my mind. Something along the lines of seeing if you share the regenerative properties of a starfish,” I teased. Before Eraztis could bite back, I stood and offered a sincere bow, one fit for a student to their mentor. “Greetings, Eraztis. Thank you for seeing me.”

The lemon-colored squid-man waved me off with an irritable hum that echoed through the realm. Within seconds, he sat upon a version of a beanbag, one made of stars and galaxies that hurt my head to look at. He didn’t speak, simply sitting with me as a scene slowly formed beneath us.

It was strange seeing stars rearrange themselves into cosmic dust and pixels, but a scene formed one that watched through an observer’s lens, above the room as if there were no ceilings. 

Down below, I weaved mana into a contract and instructed the Lady of Chains, Ellena on how to draw the binding sigil. The scene played out in slow motion, and as time ticked by, Eraztis’s face tentacles would occasionally snap at the air. Snippets and snapshots, after freezing a frame of the memory it came to hover inside mental bubbles above the scene.

Eraztis held up a hand and twisted, pulling in a still of the seal as it formed inside my soul and came to settle next to the one I shared with the healer’s guild. It was similar but different; it glowed a bloody red as a small ember bloomed inside the sigil.

“You could have died. One wrong move and the fragility of your soul could have been crushed. To open yourself to a contract while you are just barely standing on your legs is beyond foolish.”

“I had to.”

Eraztis slowly turned his head and frowned. I could tell by the way his tentacles curved.

“You only wanted information. Reap her mind, and be done with it. But you wanted more.”

“I saw an opportunity. I calculated the chances of finding a ship captain. One willing to sail to a place that’s restricted; one that can be trusted.”

He shook his head. “Then implant mental suggestions. If you are worried about long term control, you have the means to overcome it. Even with your lack of training, you are skilled enough to know what I mean. It wouldn’t have been hard to warp her memories and implant a subconscious need to obey. The trigger would have been easy.”

I opened my mouth to protest but kept it shut as his words settled in. For added emphasis, he pulled up distinct stills and fractured them into separate scenes. Dozens of times I was fully willing to raid the minds of the mercenaries. Each one put to sleep with a dose of trauma that I knew could have long-lasting consequences.

Eraztis sighed, drawing my attention. It was deep and tired, one belonging to someone old and beyond an age. Stars in the realm winked out, as if put to sleep by the very motion.

“I will say this now, only because I deem it necessary, but do not get a big head,” he grumbled. I raised a brow and he started tapping his throne with annoyance. “You are not of a race, nor civilization where mental manipulation is easy or common. You are no mind eater.”

“Thanks?”

“Your ability to learn from my teachings is in no small part a result of my actions. Do not mistake me. But know that you are truly a sponge. A pupil a teacher desires, one that takes to the lessons with an ease that would startle others.”

“I… Are you okay?”

“Brat,” he bubbled. His gaze fixed on me and I felt the strange urge to wilt underneath it. “You have the skills, and aptitude to wield that skill of yours better. However, you do not. I know you know how, and even if you didn’t, I believe your natural talent to adapt would see you through the process.”

I clicked my fangs and turned to stare at the scenes again, seeing the branding form in completion to the ritual and connect me and the captain. Even the color of the sigil, the name and my casual acceptance of it being a brand spoke volumes. 

“I had help. I’m not that talented. Memories both plundered, and gained from some mysterious source that you won’t explain,” I said, almost defiantly.

“Memories gained from a spoil of war. Knowledge granted and approved by a source that thinks you are worthy. Pulled from the endless sea of knowledge by yourself even if you do not realize it. Those are excuses. You are talented, maybe not in martial prowess but you are talented. If you think every reborn knows how to weave a hidden aspect of mana and reignite a soul at your level, you are very much mistaken. So why, Cyrus? Why the need to risk yourself knowing your goals, knowing the dark thoughts you keep under the surface whenever you remember the faces of those who hovered above that night?”

The realm exuded an unbearable emptiness. Even the scenes below had frozen and all that was left was the weighted stare from a being older than Inoria itself. 

Sighing I reached for the mental projection, one that showed a still of my soulspace and brought it closer. 

“Because I could,” I eventually admitted. “Because I had a feeling that I could, and that I should have. I didn’t want to set some internal switch hoping it stuck around and she’d be there later. I needed to know she would. No matter what. It’s been… five months already, and it’s the first and only lead we have!”

“Is that so?”

My eye twitched but I held it in. “And she didn’t fight. She complied through her own choice. Listen, I’m willing to do a lot of things, but I can already almost hear their voices telling me I did better for simply not messing with her? I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I would have gone down that path if I wasn't confident in creating the pact. Besides, now that I did it once, I can do it again. And again, and again… It’s just another tool to use and I’d rather know how to use it before I need to adapt on the fly. Okay?”

Silence continued for a few heartbeats that stretched into infinity, but the god slowly chuckled. It was almost mocking with how little his facial expression changed.

With a wave he minimized the memories into a small star and sent it into a corner while he pulled up another set of scenes. 

“Your use of illusions is abysmal. A tool that you should be using, especially considering your own experience from Theodore’s application. Yes, I know you struggle with it, and I can at least tell you why, but that’d ruin the fun.” I scowled and his laugh grew. “We’ll work on it. It’s a good fear tactic, if anything else.”

I sighed outwardly, however I kept my smirk to myself. Eraztis drilled me on lessons for hours, replaying the scenes and splicing them down to halves of seconds. Slowly, but surely, I learned enough to improve my branding.

Eventually he moved on after giving me a tirade about resorting to cheap tricks regarding Gallarion’s ability to produce illusions. When he pulled up the scene with the strange ferret in the cage, he tilted his head to the side.

“Interesting. Solunaria is rather poor in regards to these creatures, but it looks like one got caught straying from the planes.”

“You know what that is?” I asked, eyeing the ferret and remembering its words. 

Now that I can hear it again, it really does sound like grinding stone being mashed together. 

I shook my head but paused when I saw Eraztis staring at me with disappointment clear in his eyes.

“What?” I asked.

“You truly do not recognize what that creature is? That’s absurd, yet strangely fitting,” he teased.

“I… Wait, was that a spirit? Is that why it called me lord?”

“Correct,” he said with the cadence of a smug teacher. “A mere spiritbeast. Barely tier two. Although, it is rather surprising it knew how to record its essence into a skill crystal. Perhaps it was older than its tier suggests? I take it you haven’t identified the stone yet?”

“I didn’t even know it was a skillstone…” I grumbled. 

“Have young Khrem do so. If I had to take a guess, it’ll be something similar to the skill it displayed. Stone expansion of some kind? It is of lower clarity, so probably smaller like pebble or gravel. Either way, the stone isn’t important. It's the appearance of such a creature.”

I clicked my fangs, as a bad premonition crept forward. “What do you mean?” 

“Cyrus,” Eraztis sighed. “You should know by now that things in your life can be simple or not at all. I do not read fate, it is a domain for the greedy, the paranoid, and the foolish. However, a spirit just so happens to appear and crosses paths with you could be a sign. Could be. Merely food for thought moving forward. One does not need to be a seer to be… Prepared.”

“Noted,” I replied dryly.

With that, he waved the stars of memories away and tossed them into the twinkling sea around us. He stood up and his throne snapped out of existence as he appeared above me, hand extended.

“You have done well to keep to the terms I have set. You’ve shown restraint and learned valuable lessons and rich experience to further help hone yourself for future endeavors. With that, it’s time.”

I sat forward in excitement. The exhaustion from being lectured by the task master washed away the moment I processed his words.

“Really? Finally? Fuck yeah.”

He snorted. “I do know why you are so excited. The seal will not fade instantly. It’ll last long enough for let’s say… a month and a half. Then you can begin.”

“Oh come on! That’s arbitrary and you know it,” I protested.

“It’s precaution and a bit of insurance for reckless idiots. Now sit still. If I maim you now, even knowing it’d be your fault, I’d have to deal with that angry fox.”

I turned stiff as a statue but inwardly pumped my fists. Five agonizing months of recovery, and being forced to wait as I felt like a used rag. Fixing my tattered body, one stitch at a time. Even if the jerk made me wait another two months, it didn’t matter.

I’d finally be free of the shackles binding my soul tight. I’d finally be able to summon all my familiars again without feeling like a crushed can of fruit.

More importantly, I could continue my work on ascending. I could finally, finally, be free to catch up with the rest of my teammates and work on getting to tier two.

Eraztis paused, his claw only an inch away from my chest. “See, that’s the kind of look that worries me.”

He shook his head and plunged his hand through my chest before I could retort. My own scream buried whatever insult I had ready as I tossed every creative curse and insult at the bastard god.