Lucid fell into a dark void. He fell to the ground, not dead, but submerged in a dark puddle that reached above his arms. Water sloshed beside him with each movement, spreading ripples across the shallow surface.
A voice came out. Calm. Measured.
"Finally. At last."
He could hear water swash under beside him. Beyond, he saw a luminescent orb, the only source of light, hanging over the puddle like a moon forgotten by the sky. Shaping a beutiful black hole as its dawn.
"Where the hell am I?"
"Oh, this?" The voice carried amusement. "This is my soulscape."
Lucid thought about Alice's soulscape, where he had met her when he died. No. He had not died this time. He was brought here, it would seem.
"I know your name. Silas, is it?"
"It's a terrible name if you ask me."
Lucid started to get up, one hand supporting himself on the wet ground.
He was met with a kick to the side of his chin. It sent him flying sideways with a splash as he grunted, pain flaring through his jaw.
"Ouch," he muttered, clutching his chin.
He looked back toward where he was. A punch landed at the top of his chin. Another connected with his head, snapping it sideways.
He rolled back. Both of his shoulders were grabbed. A figure headbutted him, the impact cracking his nose.
"You piece of—"
He could not see. A dark shadow loomed around the puddle, attacking from each side. Invisible hands. Invisible fists. All striking from the darkness.
"The heck..." But it didn't seem to matter as each injury healed in less than a second
Finally, the figure appeared. The man took off his glove and shook his wrist, flexing his fingers.
"You are rather sturdy, aren't you?"
Lucid evaluated him, looking up and down. He looked exactly as before. He was the one who had broken the whole tavern and led him to that suicide mission which led him to Karmen. He remembered him. The cave. His movements precise back then. Not a match even with Karmen, but that was not the case now. He had grown much stronger. Much better. Adapted.
He braced himself, summoning a pair of chains in his hands, gleaming with thermal white light.
It illuminated the whole space. It looked like a massive fog of darkness threatened to envelop him, yet he could still see. If he kept his eyes on the dawn, that gigantic moon, he could predict where the next attack could land.
Suddenly, the moon dispersed. The floor dropped into a much harder surface. His feet cracked the ground beneath him. It was a high fall.
"This entire domain is under my control," a voice shot out from the dark.
As he tried to get back up, a hand met his throat and slammed him to the ground. Snakes spiraled out from all sides, biting him, clawing at his fabric, trying to pierce skin. The hand was firm on his throat. Lucid struggled. He gripped the man's hand, looking up at him. While kicking his feet from below.
"That fog of yours."
He reached for it. It parted. It returned. It swayed.
Lucid stopped fighting. The snakes that bit into his hide were met with a hiss as bright white light surrounded each wound, making them shine in an ethereal glow. He could not get damaged. This was not corrosive fate essence. But the sword was the most dangerous part.
"Most peculiar." Silas muttered.
Lucid bit the man's wrist. The man winced, making the tight hold loosen slightly. That gave Lucid all the moment he needed. All the opportunity to retaliate.
He punched the man's chin and wrapped a chain around his throat. He took both ends and shot up from behind him, dragging him by the neck toward the ground until something sliced through his lower body. His torso fell. He was cut in half. His upper half visible and bleeding. Just as his vision steadied, they fixed on a horrible scene. His other half, his legs, just a couple of meters away.
Lucid was shocked. He had never seen himself this damaged. The bright light immediately tried to work, regenerating his limb. This sword, coupled with the fact that he was not in his own domain, made healing difficult.
"I followed you ever since Tyriana. The cave. The Red Mountains. The sky dock. And that little incident at the train. Well, no need to say more. As you know what transpired after"
Silas approached and stepped on his head, threatening to crush down on it.
"We, the Chapeau, are an organization."
"We believe that the rifts and the Unfaithful are what humanity needs."
"We believe, or at least I believe, that if we become one with the Unfaithful, we could advance humanity by so much."
"The creator of the rifts wished that one day, one of us, anyone, could conquer them and stand against Mother Fate."
"For so long we have failed in combining a single human with an Unfaithful. We have failed time and time again. All the while, the empire Materna continues with its hopeless conquest, as well as the other factions whom are currently occupied with their own problems."
"Little do they know that the only problem the scattered realm faces is them... by us. And here we are, driven by greed, by lust for power. Faith goes into those who do not deserve it."
"Then what the hell do you want with me?" Lucid spat blood into the puddle.
Silas looked down, considering the question like it was a good one.
"At first glance, one would look at you like nothing but a minor, stubborn fool. But time and again, you prevail where you should have died."
"You possess the traits to manifest Enlightened abilities. You possess an ability to rapidly heal, to summon chains and other things. Are you sponsored by a deity, or are you something else?"
"But that's not the most interesting part, Lucid."
Lucid's eyes shot up.
'This bastard knows my name.'
"Your thread of fate. The interior of your soul is hollow. Empty."
"There is nothing that is tying you to Mother Fate."
"Yet you stumble and stand, possessing capabilities that share the same dense threads as hers."
"But your thread is cut. There is nothing."
"Well, I guess she hates me then."
Silas pressed down on his head harder.
"Do you think this is funny?"
"With a vessel like you, all of our research, our experience, will surely come into fruition. We will be able to develop a prototype of a half-human, half-Unfaithful with you."
"Wait!" Lucid yelled.
"It's okay, Lucid. You'll die in the process. Well, less to say, there is a slight propabability, your consciousness will be trapped in the unfaithful's form."
"You already have one of those!"
"That is true. But that one will soon run its course. Our current ones ... They only last for a couple of hours until they come back to the true state of an Unfaithful."
He put a knee on Lucid's back. He withdrew a syringe, the liquid inside glowing with a sickly purple light.
"Think, Lucid. You'll save millions. Perhaps even billions."
As the needle inched closer to the side of his throat, Lucid closed his eyes silently, cursing.
A green light formed.
So bright and luminescent, it immensely lit up the whole soulscape, the dark ground, and the dark sky.
Silas was met with a wrathful spell that resembled fire. It burned his back and suit. He was knocked off Lucid, scrambling backward.
He tried to put the flames away, but they burned again, brighter, hotter.
Delicate green eyes looked down at Lucid's neck, lifting him up. He felt warm. He felt alive again. A thread was attached to the severed lower half of his body, reattaching him, inching the wound closed, sealing it shut.
A hand wrapped around his collarbone as a head rested beside his shoulder.
The figure with green hair and green luminescent skin looked at Silas, the man whose right hand had started to burn, with wrathful eyes.
"Leave. My. Mortal. Alone."
Silas looked at her in amazement. His face twisted between shock and recognition.
Lucid did not feel right. He swayed left and right, vision blurry.
The figure beside him cupped his cheek, whispering delicate words.
"I'm here with you."
It seemed to ignite something inside him.
Silas withdrew his sword, the black blade gleaming in the green light.
"How are you overwriting my soulscape? This should not be possible."
"Unless you are a primordial—"
The words threatened to fall off his mouth, realizing the monstrosity he had invited into his domain.
Lucid shot forward, his face dead set. The figure wrapped its arms around him, supporting him.
He summoned something in his hand.
A spear.
The Pierced Spine.
A spear thick and black as midnight shot forward with immense speed. Silas seemed to dodge, the movement fast. Lucid spun in the figure's arms and pierced the shoulder of the man.
He dismissed the spear.
"Divine."
A red glow enveloped his hand, threatening to massacre everything in its path.
Every kick he had taken. Every cut he had endured had resulted in this pent-up energy. The red aura of the attribute of the Pierced Spine.
Lucid shot forward as Silas gripped his shoulder in pain.
For the first time, a small smile tugged at Lucid's lips.
He punched. Everything went dark as if blood splattered everywhere. The domain shattered in bits and pieces, cracks spreading across the sky like broken glass.
"Go on, my love," the voice vanished as everything vanished.
Lucid's fist connected with Silas's face. The impact sent shockwaves through the soulscape. The ground beneath them crumbled. The moon above shattered into fragments of light.
Silas flew backward, crashing through the darkness itself, blood trailing from his mouth.
Lucid stood there, breathing hard, the red aura around his fist slowly fading.
The soulscape collapsed around him. The puddle evaporated. The darkness receded.