"Huh???"
Ash woke up from his stupor after hearing the loud roaring of Eric. The sound was powerful and filled with raw emotion, echoing across the Soul Space and shaking the stillness that had existed there for decades.
For a brief moment, his thoughts struggled to catch up with reality, but he quickly stabilized himself. He carefully examined his mental state and noticed there was nothing wrong with him. His mind was clear and calm, free from fog or lingering dizziness that usually followed long periods of unconsciousness.
Without wasting even a moment, Ash vanished from his previous location and appeared directly in front of the roaring unicorn. He did not even look in the soul library, if he had he definitely would have shocked.
The instant he appeared, Eric stopped roaring and shifted his gaze toward Ash. His eyes were filled with uncontrollable anger, carrying deep pain and suppressed memories that had resurfaced after decades of forced slumber.
Ash himself was slightly taken aback after seeing Eric.
Isn’t he a lot bigger than what he was supposed to look like..?
Ash felt both confusion and surprise. The Eric he remembered was far smaller and fragile.
The unicorn standing before him now possessed a far more imposing physique, with muscles tightly coiled beneath his radiant coat. Though, still looked little malnourished, which made Ash embarrassed after all he had done nothing to feed him.
His horn emitted faint fluctuations of Aether energy, and his entire presence felt heavier.
Ash still had not realized that nearly 50 years had passed inside the Soul Space.
The concept of time had long lost meaning for him during his endless cycle of Rune comprehension.
Even so, he forced himself to ignore the mystery behind Eric’s sudden growth for now. His priority was calming Eric down before his rage caused greater damage.
But there was a problem.
Ash was extremely bad at comforting someone...
"Yo, buddy. Long time no see."
Ash spoke with a light smile, trying to sound casual and relaxed. He raised his hand and waved gently, slowly stepping closer toward Eric while maintaining a careful distance.
His posture was intentionally loose, as he tried to appear harmless and familiar, hoping that Eric would recognize him beyond his anger.
However, instead of calming down, Eric seemed to grow even more furious. Ash could clearly see destructive Aether energy beginning to condense around Eric’s horn. The energy gathered in dense layers, swirling violently as if reflecting the storm of emotions within Eric’s mind.
The surrounding Soul Space trembled faintly, reacting to the unstable fluctuations of power.
Seeing that, Ash’s smile froze along with the hand he was waving.
This little...
Ash was not able to finish his thought, as a destructive beam of concentrated Aether manifested directly in front of him almost instantly. The attack moved with terrifying speed, leaving no space for hesitation or miscalculation.
Ash vanished from that position at the very last moment, narrowly escaping direct impact.
It was his Soul Space after all. He could appear anywhere he desired and disappear whenever he wished. Movement within this domain was effortless and instinctive to him, something that had become second nature after so much time.
But there was no real point in dodging.
Ash seemed to have momentarily forgotten that this was still his own soul.....
As the Aether beam struck the walls of the Soul Vault, an intense wave of pain erupted inside Ash.
His soul body bent violently, as if an overwhelming force had slammed directly into his abdomen. The pain was not physical, but existential.
The attack had damaged the structural integrity of his Soul Space, which was directly connected to his own being.
Damn it...
Still, the damage was not catastrophic. The power behind Eric’s attack fell noticeably short compared to the devastating force that Solareth was capable of unleashing.
Even so, the pain remained sharp and burning, spreading through his entire consciousness like wildfire that refused to fade immediately.
However, Ash was long accustomed to pain. The countless instances of information overload during Rune comprehension along with his masochistic tendencies to achieve his goals. Compared to that, this pain was manageable.
Thus, he steadied his breathing and suppressed the lingering tremors within his soul, regaining control over himself far quicker than most beings would have been capable of.
When Ash appeared back inside his Soul Space, he could see Eric still staring at the exact place where he had launched his attack and the slightly burned wall of the Soul Vault, which was slowly healing at its own natural pace.
Eric’s eyes were still filled with unbearable rage, but tears continued to fall from them silently, trailing down his face and soaking into his shimmering fur.
The sight instantly dissolved the irritation that had briefly formed inside Ash. His anger vanished completely, replaced by a heavy sigh that carried both guilt and realization.
He is still a kid, treat him like a kid Ash, you have to take responsibility for him, I can’t mess this up....I can’t disappoint.....the expectations placed upon me...
Reminding himself of that, Ash this time appeared directly in front of Eric without hesitation.
The sudden movement startled Eric, causing his body to stiffen instinctively, but before he could react properly, Ash gently grasped his neck and pulled him closer against his chest.
With slow and careful movements, he began patting the unicorn, who was no longer as small and fragile as before.
Eric immediately tried to retaliate. His muscles tensed and Aether energy flickered faintly around his horn as he struggled to break free. However, Ash strengthened his grip using the augmentation of his own willpower.
Eric, who still lacked perfect control over his own strength, failed to free himself from Ash’s hold. His struggles gradually weakened, especially as he began hearing the soft words Ash was muttering close to his ear.
Soon, Eric’s resistance broke completely, and he began crying like a helpless child who had been holding his pain for far too long.
"You can cry all you want, don’t worry I am here with you. Just pour all the things you have inside of you out, don’t worry I am with you."
Ash repeated the words slowly, almost mechanically, recalling the same comforting phrases Elysia used to whisper to him in his past life whenever he felt broken or lost.
He chose to repeat them exactly as he remembered, knowing very well that he was terrible at comforting others using his own words. He simply hoped that words which once saved him would now help someone else.
At the same time, he had already realized how poorly he had treated Eric just moments ago. The casual greeting, the forced cheerfulness, the complete ignorance of Eric’s emotional state... all of it now felt painfully foolish.
Honestly, he felt like he deserved a beating for that mistake. The contrast between his behavior and the warmth Elysia always showed him only became clearer in his mind.
And the more he noticed that difference, the more a quiet guilt surfaced within him, making him feel that he never truly deserved someone as kind and patient as Elysia to stand beside him as a partner.
Forcefully pushing those thoughts away, Ash focused entirely on Eric. He continued to console him, or rather, continued repeating the comforting words he had memorized from Elysia.
His voice remained steady and calm, allowing Eric to release everything he had buried within himself. The unicorn cried as if he had been waiting decades for this moment, his cries slowly weakening until exhaustion took over and he eventually fell asleep in Ash’s arms.
Ash released a long breath while looking down at the sleeping unicorn. With gentle movements, he rubbed Eric’s soft fur, which had grown thicker and smoother across his now fully developed body.
The fur shimmered faintly, carrying a fragile warmth that made the moment feel strangely peaceful.
I just hope, next time he wakes up....he will be feeling much better than now....
Letting out another quiet sigh, Ash summoned his clock. He wanted to check how much time had passed during the earlier session of Rune Comprehension. According to his rough estimation, it should have been around 5 yea--
"Holy Shit!!! 50 years passed??"
Ash shouted almost instinctively, his voice echoing across the Soul Space before he immediately clamped his mouth shut as quickly as he had shouted.
His eyes instantly shifted toward Eric, panic flashing briefly across his face. Seeing that the unicorn remained peacefully asleep, Ash released a silent breath of relief. The last thing he wanted was to wake Eric up after he had finally calmed down.
Carefully adjusting his posture so Eric remained comfortable in his arms, Ash slowly shifted his attention back toward the clock. His mind was still struggling to process the sheer amount of time that had slipped away, and a faint shock continued to ripple through his thoughts as he stared at the numbers displayed before him.
He checked his Soul Library, and indeed, other than the Golden Book of the first glyph, there were four more Golden Books present within the vast expanse of the library.
At the same time, Ash could sense that he was already halfway through the formation of the sixth Golden Book, as clusters of newly compiled books were slowly resonating with each other, subtly moving toward consolidation, as if preparing to merge once enough knowledge was gathered.
***