Zeke watched silently as the Chimeroi girl finished her meal. He tried to put on a carefree expression, but it became increasingly difficult to do so. Now that she had a name and a face, his guilt had increased exponentially.
Why did he even ask her name?
Zeke didn't know. Yet he wasn't able to help himself at that moment. No, that wasn't entirely true. He had a pretty good guess as to why he had asked, but he deeply regretted it now.
Moments later, the girl finished the chunk of raw meat. Her gaze found him, but she didn't seem in a hurry to speak. It was as if she expected him to take charge in this situation. Was that it? Was she waiting for him to give orders? Too bad he wasn't about to do anything of the sort.
Soria slowly grew impatient as she noticed that he wasn't about to speak. "What will happen to me now?"
Zeke raised a single brow. "Nothing."
"Then… what do you want me to do?" she asked. "I promised to follow your orders."
Zeke shook his head. "You can do whatever you want. But I suggest you continue practicing the breathing technique. It will come in handy later on."
"…later on?"
"When you are back in the hole," Zeke clarified.
"You are letting me go?!" she exclaimed. To Zeke's surprise, her voice contained a mix of both excitement and regret. How strange. No, this wasn't the time to ponder this peculiarity.
Zeke nodded at her. "Yes, I'll let you go."
"When?"
"When you wake up the next time, you are most likely going to be back in the hole."
"Why don't you let me go now?" Soria asked, a teasing note entering her voice. "Are you planning to attack me in my sleep?"
Zeke rolled his eyes. "I am going to erase your memories before I send you out."
The girl looked horrified. "There is no way you can do that."
Zeke smiled slightly. "Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?"
Soria's expression darkened further. His words clearly hadn't managed to ease her concerns; if anything, she appeared more convinced now. She was a strange girl. Whenever he pushed, she resisted, but when he withdrew, she pushed on her own. What kind of a life had this girl lived to become so twisted?
"Can you really do that?" she asked eventually.
Zeke scratched his head. "I am not quite sure myself. But it seems possible."
"Then… how much am I going to forget?" For some reason, there was a hint of longing in her gaze as she asked that question.
"Why do you ask?"
"Is… is there a way to make me forget other things?" the girl asked, clearly hesitant to broach the subject. Zeke looked at her, silently assessing her request. He had a good idea of what kind of memories she wanted to erase.
"It depends on the memory," he said after a while. "The more meaningful it is to you, the more damaging if I were to get rid of it."
Soria lowered her gaze, remaining silent.
It seemed he had been right. The girl wanted him to get rid of a traumatic experience. However, it was most likely something that had been instrumental in forming her character. If he were to absorb it, she might die from the backlash.
Zeke cleared his throat. For some reason, he felt the silence to be very uncomfortable. "You might want to get rid of it now, but there is an upside even to the worst of memories."
"Such as?" The girl clearly didn't trust his words.
"It will make you stronger in the long run," Zeke explained. "The reason I can not simply get rid of that memory is because it has already become essential to your development."
Intrigued, Soria asked, "How so?"
Zeke smiled at her. "Our experiences form the person we will become. The more intense the experiences, the more they will help us grow. For obvious reasons, bad memories are often a bigger driving force than good ones."
"Then I am going to become very strong," Soria said, a genuine smile blooming on her face. It was a beautiful sight, wholly different from her usual expression. However, her frown returned a moment later. "What's the point of telling me all of this? I am going to forget this conversation anyway."
Zeke's smile also vanished, replaced with an expression of profound sadness. The two remained in this tense atmosphere until Soria retreated to a corner of the hideout to start her breathing exercise.
A long while later, Zeke was still hung up on her last words. He had been so caught up in the moment that he had forgotten who he was talking to. Becoming very strong? No, she wouldn't. She wouldn't get the chance to. Why had he been trying to cheer her up anyway? That was not something her murderer had any right to do.
With a sigh, Zeke returned to his own practice. Even though he didn't dare infiltrate the Soul of the Archmage at the moment, he could still improve the handling of his own tether. After all, the problem he faced right now was one of fine control, not comprehension.
Time passed quickly, with neither Zeke nor Soria disturbing the other's practice. However, as the day turned to night, he noticed the first indicators of tiredness in the girl. As more time passed, she began to experience more and more lapses in concentration. Her eyelids were getting noticeably heavier as well. Yet, for some reason, she seemed to be actively fighting against falling asleep.
It was a battle she had no chance of winning, and by the time each blink lasted a couple of seconds, she decided to give up her resistance and slumped to the floor. Yet, before she closed her eyes for good, she looked at Zeke one last time. "Good night, Ezekiel," she whispered so quietly that he couldn't be sure if she even meant for him to hear. "It would have been great… if this dream could have lasted for a bit longer." After saying those words, she fell asleep with a peaceful expression on her face.
[Notice]
The test subject has fallen asleep.
Zeke grimaced. After listening to the girl's goodbye, Akasha's words sounded especially jarring to his ears. "Don't call her that, Akasha."
[Answer]
Apologies, Host. The Chimeroi has fallen asleep. It is advisable for Host to hurry, as it is unclear how long it will take to infiltrate her soul.
Zeke nodded. He was well aware of his predicament as well. This would be the first time he tried to infiltrate a Chimeroi's Soul. He had a few theories on how to best go about it, but as of yet, that was all they were — theories.
In a first attempt, Zeke tried to use her depleted physical and mental state as an entry point. One of his theories was that Chimeroi, who went into a state of unconsciousness due to malnutrition, were in a similar state as Mages under the effect of Supra root. Yet, the attempt remained fruitless. Either his theory was wrong, or Soria was still too far from such a state, even after hours of breathing exercises.
Next, Zeke tried to use Mind Magic to infiltrate her Soul. He knew that it was theoretically possible, even though he had never managed it before. His confidence was somewhat bolstered by the fact that Chimeroi weren't as impervious to Mind Magic as Mages. Nevertheless, after exhausting all the tricks in his repertoire without making substantial progress, Zeke conceded defeat.
One after the other, Zeke attempted every conceivable method, only to be met with repeated failures. Accessing a soul, as it turned out, was an exceptionally challenging task under ordinary circumstances. Eventually, he found himself left with only one last resort — an option he had hoped to avoid despite its higher likelihood of success.
…using his connection to the Archmage.
Zeke knew that there had to be a stable connection between a Master and his Slaves. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to die when their Master perished. However, delving into the Archmage's Soul came with inherent risks, and Zeke remained uncertain. Specifically, he lacked confidence in his ability to navigate the entire Soul without revealing his presence. His previous practices had focused on staying in the outermost layer, but for this undertaking, he would be compelled to venture deeper.
Zeke briefly hesitated in the face of this daunting challenge. However, a renewed resolve flickered in his eyes. If he didn't summon the courage to attempt it, how would he ever know if he could succeed? This was a trial he would have to face sooner or later. So, sooner it would be.
Following the usual steps, Zeke infiltrated the Soul of the Archmage. This procedure had already become second nature to him. Yet, the moment he entered, he noticed that something was off. The surrounding thoughts and memories were moving in a bizarre pattern.
Was… was the Archmage in a good mood?
Zeke had never encountered this situation before. At first, he assumed that the man had to be drunk or under the influence of other substances, but that didn't seem to be the case either. What was this situation? Had something good happened?
Zeke frowned deeply; anything that could make the old fart happy had to be terrible news. Despite his reservations, he couldn't resist attempting to uncover the nature of this potentially dire information. With utmost focus, he closed in on the nearest memory, well aware that if he screwed up now, he would have to retreat immediately.
As he neared the memory, the resistance intensified. It was the same hurdle he'd faced before. Previous attempts at using force had resulted in disaster, so he opted for a different strategy. Instead of trying to force a breakthrough, he countered the resistance by emitting equal pressure. In this realm, it wasn't muscles but intent and thought that controlled his movements, underscoring the significance of the thoughts in his mind.
Without feeling any resistance, Zeke approached the memory. He was absolutely baffled by how smooth the entire process went. This was the beauty and curse of the Soul. Even the slightest change in your mental state could make or break you.
When he reached the core of the memory, Zeke exerted his utmost control. Now that he had come so far, he didn't want to screw it up at the last moment. He merely existed, soaking in the experience without consuming it. After remaining in this state for a while, Zeke started to get a clear idea of what this memory was about.
He found himself in the body of the Archmage, studying his own reflection in a full-length mirror. "The color red makes me look slim."
Zeke wanted to do a double-take. Slim? Did he really think so? Recalling the pudgy stature of the Archmage, Zeke could hardly believe the man actually thought that the red clothing made him look slim. What a ridiculous thought…
Moving on, from memory to memory, Zeke learned a lot about the Archmage's day-to-day life.
"I should kill him soon."
"Should I promote her?"
"I want to eat something."
"Where is that girl?"
"Where did I put that?"
"My throne is not big enough."
"They fear me."
"Should I call for her?"
…
Zeke was baffled. What a carefree life this man led. Not a single one of his thoughts seemed to revolve around anything substantial. He didn't contemplate Magic, philosophy, or human nature. All he ever thought about was the pursuit of pleasure and his own standing in the world.
After delving into several dozen memories, Zeke began to perceive the Archmage more like an exotic creature than a fellow human being. His thought patterns were so foreign that Zeke started questioning whether he even belonged to the same species.
Zeke was so absorbed in his research that he almost missed it when he finally learned the reason for the Archmage's sudden happiness. It was something that seemed trivial to Zeke but made the man incredibly happy. The reason for his happiness was that he had managed to purchase a trio of slaves. It was a set of triplets made up of three identical sisters.
From the Archmage's memories, Zeke learned that they were a rare breed of Chimeroi with a lot of combat and growth potential. That was the reason that the Venomous Cabal in the north also had their eyes on them. The three would make a fine addition to their forces. However, the Ember Scar Cartel had somehow managed to get their hands on them before anybody else could secure them.
Zeke's first thought was that the man had been quite fortunate to secure such promising talents. Yet, Zeke's face changed when he dove deeper. He shuddered in disgust when he learned what the Archmage planned to do with them. He had been right. Anything that could make this person happy was terrible news.
All of a sudden, Zeke lost interest in reading any more of the Archmage's thoughts. It was time he got going anyway. He still needed to find the location of Soria's Soul connection. If he was lucky, he might even be able to learn a bit more about the nature of the Slave Ritual.